Seven Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board members say they had no idea their board chair had a federal fraud conviction until this week.

Four current members and three former members told WCCB Charlotte they were unaware of board chair Gregory "Dee" Rankin's 2008 guilty plea before it surfaced publicly. The board is now leading a search for the district's next superintendent, a hire that will affect all CMS schools, including Ardrey Kell, Community House and other Ballantyne-area campuses.

Current board members Monty Witherspoon, Cynthia Stone, Anna London and Lenora Shipp each told WCCB they did not know. Three former members who voted to make Rankin vice chair in 2023, Lisa Cline, Melissa Easley and Thelma Bailey Byers, said the same.

Their statements clash with what Rankin told WSOC-TV on Wednesday, Sept. 30. He said the conviction was "not new information" and that "since I've been on the board, this has been out there."

None of the seven agreed.

Federal court records show Rankin pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud in a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme in the Charlotte area, as the Charlotte Observer reported. He was sentenced to five years of probation, including 12 months of home confinement. The conviction was first reported by WSOC-TV days after Rankin became board chair.

Rankin told WBTV he left teaching in the early 2000s to go into real estate. He said he knew the firm he joined was participating in the fraud scheme but did not participate himself and did not report it. He called the conviction a single mistake and said he is not ashamed of his past.

When WCCB anchor Morgan Fogarty asked whether he had spoken with board members since the conviction became public, Rankin said he had reached some but that others were unavailable. He declined to name which members he said support him.

Former board member Trent Merchant publicly called for Rankin to step down on Wednesday, Sept. 30, saying Rankin should not lead the superintendent search.

Rankin has said he has no plans to resign. He said board members can decide in December whether to re-elect him as chairman.

WCCB reported it had not received responses from current members Stephanie Sneed, Liz Monterrey Duvall, Charlitta Hatch and Shamaiye Haynes, or former member Summer Nunn.

The board voted 6-2 on Sept. 29 to approve a charter creating a superintendent search committee. Witherspoon and Hatch voted against. Former board member Lisa Cline told Queen City News the search will likely take four to five months.

Rankin represents District 3 and was elected to the board in 2022. He became chair on Sept. 22 after former chair Stephanie Sneed stepped down the same night the board voted 5-4 to terminate Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill's contract. Acting Superintendent Dr. Melissa Balknight has agreed to stay with CMS until a permanent superintendent is hired.

There has been no allegation that Rankin is a target of separate ongoing state investigations into CMS finances. The North Carolina State Board of Education said Oct. 1 that those financial irregularity allegations "warrant careful review."