NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The entire New Hanover County board of education gathered for Tuesday’s policy committee meeting where the controversial code of ethics was set to be discussed.
READ MORE: NHCSB members accuse Republican majority of ‘silencing’ them, meeting behind closed doors
In an effort to hold members accountable to the ethics policy, Josie Barnhart and Pat Bradford, both on the policy committee, proposed amendments that would allow members to be removed from committee assignments per majority vote.
The board sent the policy back to committee at its June meeting in a 4-3 vote, chair Pete Wildeboer joining the minority in favor of the amendments.
“We can’t function without the things that keep us courteous and polite,” Bradford said at the meeting.
She pointed to Cleveland County Schools guidelines, which allow the board to sanction a member. NHCS legal counsel Jason Weber noted “sanction” is a broad term.
Stephanie Kraybill thought punishing board members for perceived ethical violations was unnecessary and inappropriate. The same sentiment was echoed by Hugh McManus and Stephanie Walker, who described the move as a “slippery slope” to silencing differing opinions.
Ultimately, the committee chose to keep the policy in committee while Weber and staff developed accountability language consistent with legal standards.
The policy committee also resumed discussions surrounding the district’s counseling program. At the last committee meeting, Barnhart and Bradford said they wanted to strike social emotional learning and equity language.
Prompted by Barnhart, the school board held a work session on the term “equity” earlier this month. The board member has been vocal about disbanding the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee and district position held by Malcolm Johnson; however, the work session’s intent was to define equity, whether than be in staff’s efforts or the outcomes. No consensus was reached.
Barnhart changed her view on removing the term “equity” from the counseling policy on Tuesday. The committee chair asked Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Julie Varnam to clarify how substituting “equitable access” with “fair and consistent access” would affect the counseling program.
“Equitable access would ensure students who don’t start at the same level still get access to the same opportunities, so fair and consistent would be that you give the same opportunity to every kid regardless of whether they are starting in the same place or not,” Varnam said.
Superintendent Charles Foust also explained counselors are held to training standards that include equity language.
While Bradford attempted to postpone voting on the policy until the next meeting in August, she received no support and the counseling program policy passed 2-1. It will now be submitted for board approval.
With those major changes out of the way, Barnhart turned her attention to Student Voice. Drafted by nine district high schoolers and enacted in October 2022, the program creates several student groups dedicated to increasing their involvement in district decisions.
Barnhart told the Student Voice leaders present for the meeting that there are “still some kinks that need to be worked out.” She noted several policy items to be examined.
It included the definition of “tokenism,” which occurs when a student is asked to represent the experiences of all students or all those they share an identity group with. It can also be when young people are invited into spaces primarily to validate the perspectives of adults, without being integrated into decision-making processes, according to the policy.
Barnhart pointed out the need for clarity on the opportunity and achievement gaps in NHCS.
“This felt like you students were saying that our staff are not acting with integrity,” she said.
Kraybill noted the definitions are taken from the national Student Voice association and the students are not accusing the district.
Barnhart, Bradford and Foust indicated they wanted to see a more streamlined process for student involvement.
Under the current structure, the superintendent has a student advisory council, different from the student-elected Student Voice, which now wants to be defined as student ambassadors. Separate from both is also an equity team at each school, with students chosen by school staff. Student Voice gathers “grassroots” data from each of the equity groups and is charged with delivering data and suggestions on the district level.
So far, the students have been working on the framework for the group; now they move into the implementation phase.
Foust noted there was confusion on the differences among the groups and admitted he didn’t realize the superintendent’s student advisory council was encoded in policy, though clarified his conversations with the board have been successful.
Barnhart also took issue with the policy’s statement that students should be included on every board committee, even though that has yet to be implemented. She thought the policy should outline which ones they can serve on.
“I don’t think it’s the students’ jobs to make district-level decisions on every committee,” Barnhart said.
The policy committee chair worried the group, still in its infancy, was casting too wide a net with trying to establish a presence in elementary schools.
“Rather than going full force and do a bad job, I want you guys to do a good job,” Barnhart said.
McManus offered a warning against limiting the cohort’s engagement opportunities.
“We ran for the board for our genuineness to students; we need to listen to the students, we need to hear what they are saying, and we need to make time for that,” he said.
Barnhart clarified she was not talking down to anyone. She told the Student Voice representatives she would like to set up a meeting in July to explore her notes further.
“I do personally think there needs to be some changes,” Barnhart said. “If you guys do not feel that, then it’s going to come to an all-or-nothing approach to the committee, and then, therefore, the board.”
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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