There will be a new leader at the top of the NCHSAA Board of Directors as Maurice “Mo” Green steps aside today. Green is resigning his post as the superintendent of Guilford County Schools, effective today, as well as his position as the President of the NCHSAA.
Green served the NCHSAA Board of Directors through a time of change in leadership. He was President of the Board as they chose to make Que Tucker the Interim Commissioner then installing her as the full Commissioner a few months later following the departure of Davis Whitfield for the National Federation of High Schools. The Board’s decision under Green’s leadership made Commissioner Tucker the first minority and the first female head of the NCHSAA.
Commissioner Tucker said of Green, “Mo was an outstanding Board Member for the NCHSAA. He came onto the board with a very open mind, desiring to be not only a good representative for Guilford County, but for the entire state. He carefully reviewed every agenda item, while weighing the potential outcome a decision could have on students participating in our programs.”
She added, “Mo challenged board members and well as our staff to ‘think about the student’. I am personally grateful for his leadership and guidance through my tenure to date as interim commission and now as the commissioner. I will miss him, but wish him the very best in this new venture.”
According to the Guilford Schools website, in seven years at the helm of Guilford County Schools, Green drastically improved the system’s performance in many key areas. Most notably, his vision of educational excellent with emphasis on academic achievement, character development and organizational performance led to Guilford schools achieving their all-time high graduation rate. Under Green’s leadership Guilford schools improved from a 79.7% graduation rate in 2008 to 89.3% in 2015.
His vision and implementation is credited with improved ACT college entrance exam scores, more industry-standard certifications for students and a more rigorous course load for the nearly 72,000 K-12 students within the system.
Green helped the Guilford system raise more than $40 million in private funding in addition to more than $50 million in competitive state and federal grants. His dedication to public-private partnerships in education helped the county build two new early/middle colleges as well as launch Guilford Parent Academy and a special “Freedom School” for homeless children.
As systems and schools around the state struggled with the Great Recession from 2008 on, Green selflessly led by example as he declined the 3% salary increases in his contract each year of his role at Guilford County Schools.
Green is stepping away from public schools to assume leadership of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation headquartered in Winston-Salem. The foundation is dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice, strengthen democracy through education, encourage innovation, and foster cooperation and respect among all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups through various grants and programs.
Effective today, Rodney Shotwell will move up from his role as the Vice President of the NCHSAA to assume the role of President. The Vice Presidency will not be filled until the nominating committee completes their annual meeting and a new board is approved by the membership in early May. Past President Bill Miller would step in for Shotwell should the need arise during that two month period with out a formal Vice President in office.
