Wake County Schools Superintendent Catty Moore announces her retirement
Wake County Superintendent Catty Moore announced Thursday that she’s leaving her position as the leader of North Carolina’s largest school district.
In a message posted Thursday, Moore said that she will retire as superintendent at the end of the school year on July 1. She gave the news of her retirement to the district’s principals in a meeting.
“I make this decision with a heavy heart but with undeniable confidence in the WCPSS community moving forward,” Moore said in her announcement.
School board chairperson Lindsay Mahaffey said Moore had informed the board of her retirement during Tuesday’s closed session of the board meeting. Mahaffey said the North Carolina School Boards Association will give a presentation at the Feb. 21 school board meeting about the superintendent search process.
“We will be prepared for the next chapter in Wake schools,” Mahaffey said in an interview Thursday. “We take that as a great responsibility.”
Mahaffey said Wake has been fortunate to have Moore serve as superintendent for five years given how superintendents in large districts serve an average of three years.
”It was bittersweet,” Mahaffey said of Moore’s retirement. “Loss at losing someone who’s been part of the school system and gratitude that she gave us not just her time as superintendent but through the rest of this academic year.”
‘I am so grateful’
Moore, whose maiden name is Quiroz, was 2 years old in the 1960s when her mother moved the family from Ecuador to America. Last fall, she switched from going by Cathy to being called by her legal first name of Catty.
She was the first person to graduate from college in her family. She started her career as a French teacher in Nash-Rocky Mount schools.
Moore has worked in Wake since 1988, when she joined Enloe High School as a French teacher. She later became principal of Sanderson High School, where she was named the district’s Principal of the Year in 2007.
She moved to central office, becoming an area superintendent and deputy superintendent in charge of academics before becoming Wake County’s first Latina superintendent and first female superintendent in 2018.
Moore was hired using a national search to replace Jim Merrill after he retired. Moore was chosen from a field of 20 applicants from across the nation.
“Our school system has been a part of my life and my family’s life since 1988 when I joined the district as a teacher at Enloe High School,” Moore said in her announcement. “How lucky am I to have been a part of our community as a parent, teacher, administrator, and, for the last five years, Superintendent.”
Moore expressed thanks and gratitude in her message, saying that “serving our students alongside each one of you has been my utmost privilege and pleasure.”
“I am so grateful for the support you have provided to my family and I during the past 34 years,” Moore said. “I will forever cherish the relationships we have built with each other. And I will remain inspired by your passion and commitment to serving each child, every day. Always.”
In October, the school board unanimously voted to extend Moore’s contract through June 2026. Moore’s annual base salary is $328,505.
History of awards
Moore has won multiple awards during her time leading Wake. Moore was named the 2021 Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina PTA.
In April, Moore was National Superintendent of the Year by Magnet Schools of America.
In June, Moore was named the Central Carolina Regional Education Service Alliance Superintendent of the Year.
“I want to congratulate Superintendent Moore on an amazing career,” school board member Sam Hershey tweeted Thursday. “She has given so much to our WCPSS over nearly four decades and I’m happy to see her retire on her terms. I wish her nothing but happiness when the next chapter of her life begins in July.”
Led during pandemic
Moore’s tenure as superintendent has also been marked by challenges as she led the district during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 through much of the 2020-21 school year. Many Wake students received none or only limited in-person instruction.
Test scores have dropped in Wake as they have in the rest of the state and nation. Moore has said that schools can’t go back to the way things used to be before the pandemic because the education system didn’t serve all students well.
In addition, Wake has faced increased competition from charter schools, private schools and homeschooling. Wake has 158,412 students this school year — nearly 3,500 students below pre-pandemic levels.
Mahaffey said Moore’s time as superintendent will be marked by how she led with the students in mind every day. Mahaffey said Moore was able to share her deep love of the district with the community and the rest of the state.
“Anyone who has been the leader of a district through this time would be defined by the unprecedented period of this pandemic,” Mahaffey said. “But I want her leadership to be remembered as that of a seasoned educator and making history as our first Latina and first female superintendent.”
Some of Moore’s critics were rejoicing Thursday at her upcoming departure.
“Time for new leadership,” Sloan Rachmuth, a conservative activist and frequent critic of the school district, tweeted Thursday. “Wake County students deserve safer schools that deliver higher scores.”
Finding a new superintendent
It will be the first superintendent search for most school board members since five new members were elected in November.
Wake could be competing for job applicants with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The state’s second largest district is also looking for a new superintendent.
School boards often hire an interim superintendent to lead during the period after the superintendent retires and before a new person is chosen.
Among the questions for the school board to decide is whether to hire a search firm and whether to do a national search or a local search. During the last superintendent search, Wake had hired the N.C. School Boards Association to conduct a search where the names of the finalists were kept confidential.
Mahaffey said the board will soon talk about how to conduct the search and what timeline to use. But she said Moore’s announcement gives the district plenty of lead time.
“It is a long process, but it’s a process that carries a lot of weight,” Mahaffey said. “We look forward to seeing the community feedback that will inform the process.”
Hershey, the school board member, asked for the public’s patience during the upcoming superintendent search, calling it “the most important decision a board makes.”
“Please understand that this process will not be rushed,” Hershey tweeted. “Please know that I have great confidence that all board members will be thoughtful, thorough and openminded and that we will make a great hire.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 9:56 AM with the headline "Wake County Schools Superintendent Catty Moore announces her retirement."
