CHCCS superintendent says decision to leave district came down to her family, safety
Superintendent Nyah Hamlett held back tears Thursday night as she explained her “unapologetic decision” to step down as leader of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
The decision comes as she faces a lawsuit filed in Orange County court by a former student and his father seeking damages for what they claim was “malicious prosecution” over the last few years.
The lawsuit does not name the school district as a defendant, but “in general, the Board is fully supportive of Dr. Hamlett and takes seriously the responsibility of protecting the physical safety and social-emotional well-being of all staff members and students,” district spokesman Andy Jenks said Friday in an email.
He referred questions about the lawsuit to Hamlett’s attorneys.
Hamlett alluded to her ongoing feud with Kevin Klosty and his son, Hunter, during Thursday’s school board meeting.
“Since January of 2021, I’ve taken the Michelle Obama ‘when they go low, we go high’ approach to the false narratives, misogynoir and personal attacks, the threats to the safety of my family and blatant attempts to undermine my leadership and my character,” Hamlett said.
“Through it all ... unwavering in my commitment to justice, truth and the well being of the students, staff and families that I have served,” she said.
Hamlett announced Tuesday she is leaving the district three years before her contract expires. She will become the chief equity and development officer in the Division of Equity and Organizational Development for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. Her last day will be June 27.
She elaborated Thursday about the emotions behind “an incredibly difficult decision,” saying “most superintendents of color hold in and suffer in silence because the work is so important.”
Hamlett thanked school board members Thursday for the opportunity to lead the district and work with them to give students a “high quality, safe, welcoming, affirming public education.”
School board Chair George Griffin thanked Hamlett on behalf of the board in Tuesday’s statement for her “unwavering dedication and exceptional leadership.”
On Thursday, he said, “We appreciate you. We appreciate your words,” adding in the time before she leaves, “there’s still plenty of work to be done.”
Achievements cited, and no-contact order
Hamlett was hired in January 2021 at a salary of $226,000, tasked with leading the district’s more than 11,000 students through COVID-19 and back into in-person classes. She currently earns $269,700 a year.
Jenks told The N&O in an email Tuesday that the separation was Hamlet’s decision, and as such, she will not receive separation payments or benefits from the district.
A school system statement noted that, under Hamlett, 94.8% of students graduated on time in 2023 — a record — and that the district has led the state in passing rates on exams and increased the number of schools earning “A” or “B” grades on state report cards.
In December, she was named a 2024-25 “Superintendent to Watch” by the National School Public Relations Association.
Hamlett also has faced criticism, including plagiarism allegations and for her administration’s handling in particular of exceptional children’s programs, bullying and antisemitic intimidation.
In 2023, she filed a no-contact order against the Klostys, after nearly a year of critical and sometimes hostile comments about Hamlett and her administration in public forums and emails, court documents showed.
Criticism prompts no-contact order
At East Chapel Hill High School’s graduation, Hunter Klosty was denied his diploma after swearing at district officials including Hamlett as he walked across the stage.
In her remarks to graduates, Hamlett shared a message to one student and their family.
“When you struggle with treating people with dignity and respect, trust and believe, it says a lot more about you than it ever will about the people you’re attempting to tear down,” she said, according to a graduation video.
Hunter Klosty’s father, Kevin, jogged over to Hamlett after the ceremony and pointed his finger at her, saying, “The investigation is going to begin,” before leaving the arena, UNC Police reported.
Hamlett said in her request for an order that she was afraid for her and her family’s safety. Three days before a scheduled hearing at the Orange County Courthouse, she dropped the request without prejudice, meaning she could have tried again in the future.
Hamlett did not mention the Klostys during her remarks Thursday, but they have been critical of Hamlett since she was hired.
Criticism continues; Nyah Hamlett sued
In the lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $25,000, Kevin Klosty said his family moved to Chapel Hill so he could enroll his children in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
He first took issue with the district’s masking policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lawsuit says, and in 2022 and 2023, he and his son Hunter raised questions about Hamlett’s leadership, CHCCS administrators, and decisions being made by district and East Chapel Hill High School officials, it says.
Following Hunter Klosty’s comments at a 2023 school board meeting about Hamlett’s alleged plagiarism, “the high school’s administration made life difficult for Hunter,” it says. Hunter Klosty also met with Catherine Truitt, the state’s former Superintendent of Public Instruction, and contacted the attorney for the N.C. State Board of Education seeking an investigation into Hamlett, it says.
The News & Observer has reached out to the State Board of Education to verify whether there was an investigation.
The lawsuit does not dispute what happened at Hunter Klosty’s graduation, but says he “regrets allowing his emotions to get the best of him on graduation day and for profanely addressing CHCCS administrators and Defendant.”
It denies that Kevin or Hunter Klosty engaged in name calling or personal attacks, saying the Klostys chose to move on, but they were drawn back in by the no-contact order that Hamlett filed after graduation, the lawsuit says.
“Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with Kevin and Hunter’s views, Defendant’s use of the civil no-contact order represents a dangerous precedent,” it says. “Defendant has given others a roadmap for weaponizing our State’s courts to censor and punish critics. Kevin and Hunter cannot — and will not — stand by for that.”
District officials said this week that Kevin Klosty has continued to harass district officials online and in emails, most recently on Tuesday after Hamlett announced her decision to leave.
“I bet you get fired too,” Klosty told Jenks in an email obtained by The News & Observer. “I have a $1 bet that you do. They should make this The (sic) national holiday.”
In another, he tells Jenks, “What a fantastic day.”
Hunter Klosty is now a UNC-Chapel Hill student and editor-in-chief of the conservative journal, Carolina Review, which has posted stories critical of Hamlett and her administration over the last year.
Kevin and Hunter Klosty’s social media profiles were blocked Friday or no longer appeared to be online.
Hamlett seeks jury trial, responds
In a December response filed with the court. Hamlett’s attorneys asked for a jury trial and denied most of the allegations.
The court filing notes that Hamlet saw the Klostys’ actions at a Feb. 14, 2023, school board meeting in particular as “designed to (intimidate) her,” heightening “her concerns for personal safety.” Hunter Klosty criticized Hamlett and her staff at that meeting, as his father moved to the front row, “fixating a grimacing smirk to Dr. Hamlett” and clapping loudly for an extended period, it says.
Hamlett said she consulted with her leadership team and local law enforcement after that meeting about how to respond if she met the Klostys in public or near her home, work or place of worship.
At graduation, Hamlett says she had Chief Operations Officer Andre Stewart stand next to her “because of her fear that Hunter Klosty would manifest his previous displays of hostility, hatred, and aggression … through the use of physically offensive or harmful contact.”
Stewart also consulted with law enforcement before the ceremony, the filing says. It notes that Hunter Klosty approached cameras at the graduation rehearsal on June 9 to “make hostile comments about Dr. Hamlett.”
Hamlett’s security detail put themselves between her and Kevin Klosty at graduation, causing him to stop, the response says.
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 8:51 PM.
