NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The New Hanover County Board of Education is moving on with its search for an interim superintendent after agreeing to pay out the rest of their former leader’s contract.
READ MORE: Board of education chair responds to Foust firing
In its first meeting since it fired Superintendent Charles Foust, the New Hanover County school board voted Tuesday to pay out the remainder of his contract, though did not specify the amount. Board member Pat Bradford, who made the motion to do so, stipulated the amount would be released to the public once it was finalized with legal counsel.
Foust’s contract mandates he be paid a year’s salary, $250,000, should he be terminated. In choosing to do so, the school board may have avoided a lawsuit.
Foust’s attorney Gary Shipman told Port City Daily two weeks ago that he and his client accepted what the board did.
“Assuming that the board complies with its obligations under Dr. Foust’s employment contract and the other mandatory obligations imposed by law on the board and each of its members, Dr. Foust is ready to move on,” Shipman said.
The search process for New Hanover County Schools’ new superintendent has yet to get underway due to a lack of consensus on how to move forward. However, headway was made on an interim Tuesday.
The board voted 4-2 (Melissa Mason absent) to use the North Carolina School Boards Association to help gather names of potential candidates for NHCS’ interim superintendent. Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart dissented.
Stephanie Kraybill, who made the motion, explained the NCSBA would provide names to the board and the board would not be limited to those options. The NCSBA would also guide them through the steps of the search process — none of the current board members were active when Foust was hired in 2020.
“My recommendation would be to interview several candidates, internal and external, to make sure that we are getting what we need to guide our ship,” Kraybill said.
She added the service would be free because NHCS is a member of the association, as opposed to hiring a search firm. Acting superintendent Christopher Barnes suggested the board use a search firm to find Foust’s permanent replacement.
Bradford said she didn’t want to limit either the interim search nor the permanent search to just NCSBA-identified candidates.
“You just got to spread the widest net and see what the response is,” she said.
Barnhart said she did not want to make a decision until the board went into closed session on Tuesday.
“I think having a conversation about personnel will need to happen prior to making a decision about this process,” Barnhart said.
Kraybill pointed out any discussion on the criteria for the interim or new superintendent would need to occur in open session; only specific names could be removed from public.
The board’s closed session lasted more than two hours. Afterward, the board said it would schedule a meeting for next week to discuss criteria for the interim superintendent search.
The board did not make any decisions related to the permanent superintendent search process, only the interim, despite Kraybill’s suggestion the board think ahead.
“There’s a lot of things that happened that we knew we might have thought about before we fired the superintendent, but nonetheless, this is where we are,” Kraybill said. “One of the things that came out of our survey was that the board acts impulsively and doesn’t plan. And so, if we are using the survey with the fidelity that I think that we’re trying to, then we need to take that into account as well.”
The district currently has Chris Barnes serving as acting superintendent, a vote taken simultaneously when it fired Foust. A reason hasn’t been given as to why, but the action was taken after school board received unfavorable results from its climate survey. Board member Stephanie Walker presented its findings — compiled by almost 2,000 respondents — to the board on July 2, before it discussed firing Foust in that meeting’s closed session.
The survey revealed 70% of employees, mostly teachers, are dissatisfied with district leadership and 80% finding the school board is “out of touch.” Over 60% didn’t think they could address concerns with the district for fear of retaliation, with 76% claiming their input wasn’t valued. Most comments placed the blame on Foust and the school board.
Tips or comments? Email info@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
