North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green will be the next speaker in state House District 27 State Representative Rodney D. Pierce’s Capital to the Constituents series.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 24 at the Ervin V. Griffin Centre at Halifax Community College in Weldon. 

Guests

Joining Green for the event will be Dr. J. Wendell Hall, at-large member of the state board of education, and Jill Camnitz, state board of education representative for the northeast region.

Hall has served as interim superintendent in Weldon City Schools, Warren County Schools, and Northampton County Schools and currently serves as vice chair of the Hertford County Schools Board of Education.

Camnitz, whose district includes Halifax and Northampton counties, is a former member of the Pitt County Schools Board of Education and the former chair of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain Board of Directors.

Green

Elected last November, Green made two campaign visits in Halifax County last year — first to the Center for Energy Education in Roanoke Rapids in July, and later to the Good News Church of God in Scotland Neck in September. “His return this fall marks a continued commitment to engaging North Carolinians at the community level,” Pierce said.

Green began his career as an attorney in private practice prior to becoming general counsel for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in 2001. 

He was named the district’s chief operating officer in 2006 and was later promoted to deputy superintendent. 

Green served as superintendent of Guilford County Schools from 2008 to 2015 and then as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation from 2016 to 2023. 

In 2019, the foundation awarded grants to the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe and Eastern Christian College – both in Halifax County – as part of its Inclusive Public Arts Initiative.
The event will offer residents the opportunity to hear directly from Superintendent Green about the Department of Public Instruction’s newly unveiled five-year strategic plan, Achieving Excellence in Education, which outlines the agency’s priorities through 2030.

Green’s appearance also follows his statewide Mo Wants to Know listening tour, where he held public sessions across all eight regions of North Carolina earlier this year to hear firsthand from students, families, educators, and stakeholders.

An event of particular significance

Pierce said this event holds particular significance for the county, as Halifax County Schools is one of the original plaintiffs in the ongoing Leandro school funding lawsuit, which was filed in 1994 in Halifax County Superior Court. 

“The landmark case has shaped decades of debate over the state's constitutional obligation to provide every child with access to a sound basic education — especially in rural and under-resourced districts like those in House District 27,” Pierce said.

An HCS alumnus, Pierce started his teaching career in the district in 2015 before being named North Carolina Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year in 2019. 

He said he often reminds constituents that he is quite literally a product of this struggle for educational equity. “I’m a Leandro kid. I was a sophomore at Northwest Halifax High School when this lawsuit was filed right here in our local courthouse. That case changed the conversation around education in this state — and it started in our backyard.”
Pierce launched Bringing the Capital to the Constituents earlier this year to bridge the gap between state government and local communities by bringing high-level policymakers to District 27 for direct engagement with the people they serve. “I’m honored to welcome Superintendent Green, Dr. Hall, and Ms. Camnitz to our community. Education is the cornerstone of opportunity in eastern North Carolina, and I believe our constituents deserve a direct line to those making decisions about the future of our public schools. This is what democracy looks like – leaders coming to listen, to learn, and to act.”