New Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools culinary development manager (and husband of Superintendent Clayton Wilcox’ chief of staff) Jamie Francisco met the media earlier to day. Look like things got a little testy:
Friday afternoon, in response to news media questions about the unadvertised jobs, CMS invited reporters to Shamrock Gardens Elementary to meet Jody Francisco, a former chef. His new job will include encouraging schools to develop gardens and use the food in cafeterias, which requires knowledge of federal rules for school meals.
After Francisco walked through for photos and began to talk about the job, two television reporters peppered him with questions about nepotism and the creation of an unadvertised job. Wilcox and Laura Francisco weren’t there, but Winston broke in to say questions about the hiring decision should be directed to the superintendent. Reporters insisted that Jody Francisco answer since CMS had made him the focus of a news conference, with WBTV’s Mark Garrison asking him to comment on a county commissioner’s description of his job as “the ultimate fluff job.”
Jody Francisco said neither he nor his wife made her acceptance of the CMS job contingent on finding a job for him. As a chef with food service experience, he could have worked many placed in Charlotte, he said, but he was pleased when Wilcox offered him a job similar to the work he’d enjoyed in Hagerstown, Md.
“I invite you to come with me to ensure that my job is not a fluff job,” he said.
Indeed Francisco shouldn’t have trouble finding a private-sector job in a city like Charlotte. That’s fortunate for him, which is why you have to wonder why he or his wife or Wilcox couldn’t sense the impropriety in his new position.
Update: Clayton Wilcox has lost the Uptown Paper of Record on only his third day in office.
