Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board member Shamaiye Haynes apologized Tuesday, Oct. 6, for calling an online critic a "perv" and questioning whether parents knew the person "hate[s] Blacks."

Hours after the posts, Haynes wrote on Facebook that she wanted to "stop the negativity," The Charlotte Ledger reported.

She then deleted her Facebook account.

Haynes chairs the board's Facilities, Finance and Operations committee. Her posts and apology add to a string of conduct issues on a nine-member board already facing federal and state scrutiny.

Investigations pile up

The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed Monday, Oct. 5, that they have an active investigation into CMS, WFAE reported. Spokeswoman Lia Bantavani said via email that the office could not provide additional details because the investigation is ongoing.

The State Bureau of Investigation, the North Carolina State Auditor's Office and the state Department of Public Instruction are running separate probes into alleged financial irregularities at the district. CMS is the largest school district in North Carolina, with a $2.1 billion operational budget. Mecklenburg County provides roughly $700 million of that annually.

Haynes's role in recent board turmoil

Haynes was among the five board members who voted Sept. 22 to fire Superintendent Crystal Hill. An outside law firm investigation found no wrongdoing by Hill, but the board terminated her contract anyway.

In a Sept. 24 interview with WCNC Charlotte, Haynes defended the vote. "I just think the investigation is one thing, the coming back and all the activity that came after that was another thing," she said at the time.

Separately, WCNC reported that records show Haynes proposed hiring Leadership Plus, a consulting firm, at a cost of $192,000 over the summer to support the board's Office of Board Governance. The board rejected the proposal. The firm's founder, Dr. Charles Foust, is also listed as a consultant on the website of SYDKIMYL, the educational consulting company at the center of the broader CMS financial controversy.

Local impact

The board's conduct matters directly to families at Ardrey Kell, Ballantyne Ridge and other local schools. As we reported Tuesday, half of the district's cabinet will depart by Jan. 1, leaving CMS without stable leadership while the investigations continue.

Mecklenburg County commissioners voted Monday, Oct. 5, against launching their own financial probe of CMS, choosing instead to wait for the federal and state investigations to conclude, according to The Charlotte Observer.