Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will pay attorney $289,430 to leave at end of month

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools General Counsel André Mayes is leaving the district, according to a separation agreement signed Jan. 22.

Mayes has worked in CMS since 2008 when she was hired as associate general counsel, and she was later promoted to deputy general counsel in December of that year. Mayes was promoted to be the district’s top lawyer in January 2020. Her employment with the district officially ends Jan. 31, according to the “mutual separation agreement” that The Charlotte Observer obtained via a public records request.

The district will pay Mayes a severance payment of $289,430, which is equal to one year of her contracted salary.

The agreement doesn’t state why Mayes is leaving, including whether she was fired or decided to retire. There were still over two years left on Mayes’ contract.

“She decided to retire,” CMS board chair Stephanie Sneed told The Charlotte Ledger on Saturday. “She is getting what she is entitled to as a part of retirement.”

Mayes’ contract, which was released as a public record, indicates the district must pay Mayes a year’s salary as severance if she is “terminated for convenience.” That’s not required in the event she leaves voluntarily or is terminated “for just cause.”

The separation agreement indicates Mayes would not be required to work after Jan. 14 and stipulates that neither Mayes nor CMS can make “disparaging or defamatory comments about the other, or in any way criticize the personal or business reputation, practices or conduct” of the other.

It’s the second time in recent years that a local government organization has paid its top attorney to leave. Charlotte paid now-former City Attorney Patrick Baker more than $230,000 after he was reportedly forced out in 2024, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

WFAE reported that Mayor Vi Lyles and a majority of the Charlotte City Council voted in closed session to “end” Baker’s employment, in part due to Baker’s decision to fulfill a public records request from the news outlet.

Baker told the Observer he officially retired, though his contract did not call for any severance payment if he left voluntarily or was “terminated for good cause.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 9:29 AM.