NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The interim superintendent of New Hanover County Schools got the (almost) vote of confidence Tuesday from several school board members.
READ MORE: NHCS funds more staff, interim superintendent gets glowing reviews after listening tour
In a rare bipartisan advance, Democrat Hugh McManus motioned to make Christopher Barnes, a long-time educator formerly overseeing NHCS human resources, the district’s next superintendent at Tuesday’s agenda review meeting. Barnes has been at the helm since the board fired Superintendent Charles Foust in July.
McManus received the support of Republican Josie Barnhart. The move was a major jump in the superintendent search process, as the board’s conversation had been focused on engaging a search firm and setting parameters for the permanent leader.
“I think the comments we’ve heard about Dr. Barnes since he took over pretty well answered the question,” McManus said. “Regardless of what he says or doesn’t say, he’s the top pick.
He continued saying a new pick would need time to acclimatize to the district, whereas Barnes can hit the ground running.
Board member Pat Bradford suggested they vote on offering the job to Barnes instead of issuing an edict without his input. The move was further tempered by board member Stephanie Kraybill, who criticized the “shooting from the hip” nature of the nomination.
“Dr. Barnes is sitting right there and we haven’t even discussed this at all,” Kraybill said. “Not that I am opposed to the fine work that he’s done and the turning of the ship that he has been able to create for us, but to make a motion to hire him, like right on the spot, is just reminding me of the motion to fire the former superintendent.”
Foust was fired in a surprise 5-0 vote less than a year after the four-year renewal of his contract. It followed a staff presentation on the disastrous results of a district-wide climate survey that same meeting. The data showed NHCS employees were most dissatisfied with the superintendent and school board.
Earlier in the conversation, Barnhart emphasized the feedback the board received through its two town halls — employees and the public weighed in on traits they desired in a new superintendent. Barnhart was pushing back on Bradford’s suggestion to pump the brakes and nail down the board’s criteria and search logistics.
“We’ll have the talking points of what people brought up, and you’re putting that together when we’re looking at the search,” Barnhart said. “And so I would, if we’re going to keep this on the agenda, I would like to see a discussion that kind of, for us to accumulate what we have heard and what we’d like to see, and then potentially, the following presentation at either agenda review or the following meeting.”
Ultimately, McManus’ motion was suggested for discussion in closed session by Bradford and Barnes.
Monday was not the first bout of praise directed at Barnes. After he embarked on a 2,300-employee listening tour over the summer, Barnes received glowing reviews from the board. At its October meeting, McManus urged Barnes to consider taking over permanently, citing good reviews from NHCS staff. At that meeting, Barnes also announced the district was in financial standing to hire back more than 20 positions cut out of the current budget.
After Barnes was appointed interim superintendent in August, board chair Pete Wildeboer said he was assured Barnes was the man “to rebuild trust and support from our staff as they provide a quality education for our students.”
A unified rally behind Barnes would be a step in the staff-desired direction of decision-making with district health first and politics well behind, something often accused of the board and not completely absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
Stephanie Walker, a Democrat running for county commissioner, brought forth a resolution in support of “fully funding IDEA” — the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Though school districts are bound to provide specially abled children with the support they need to learn under the law, the federal government only funds a percentage of those costs.
Walker was clear she understood the resolution would have no teeth but believed it was the right signal to send. Bradford disagreed, saying resolutions don’t belong in school board deliberations.
“I’m very uncomfortable with this,” she said. “I do not want to come out and say that I oppose what they’re doing at the General Assembly. All these facts that are in here, I don’t know where they came from, but I know the General Assembly gave us more in the last year than they did ever before, and I’m not going to throw rocks at them.”
This is not the first time Bradford has opposed a resolution. When NHCS Chief Financial Officer Ashley Sutton asked the board to consider a resolution opposing state changes to charter school funding, Bradford dissented saying she preferred for the board to engage state leaders directly.
However, the board member did support a resolution, passed unanimously, to request the State Bureau of Investigation release the report on whether former NHCS administrators broke laws or obstructed justice by failing to report sexual abuse in the district.
Bradford also took issue with the IDEA resolution referring to the United States as a “democracy” instead of a constitutional republic, though it utilizes characteristics of both. Republicans have used this semantic debate to refute claims that the party, led by former President Donald Trump, poses threats to democracy.
The board member also took issue with the resolution expanding beyond the topic of IDEA, namely mentioning the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program. The expansion of the program, pushed by Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover), is a hot-button topic for those running for school boards and state superintendent. Critics claim the General Assembly is diverting taxpayer dollars to some private school attendees, regardless of their family’s income.
The resolution, shared with Port City Daily after publication, states “millions of dollars are lost from public school funding to charter schools and now private schools through the funding of the Opportunity Scholarships.”
Barnhart also took issue with the resolution as well.
“I do feel like it was disingenuous to put a partial resolution of IDEA funding and support, it happens to be a week before the election, possibly potentially political climate,” Barnhart said.
She was cut off by Walker making a point of order, calling Barnhart’s comments rude.
“It’s a very inappropriate thing to make up and accuse somebody of doing, IDEA has nothing to do with the county,” Walker said.
An attempt to send the resolution to the legislative committee failed, only Bradford and Barnhart in favor. An amended version of the resolution, just focusing on IDEA.
An amended version of the resolution focused solely on idea will be added to the agenda, as voted 5-2, Bradford and Barnhart dissenting. This item was not the only one marred by politics of this year’s election cycle.
During a presentation on the district’s literacy framework, Bradford asked curriculum specialist Maureen Hill how teachers balance teaching children how to read and making sure the content they’re reading is age-appropriate.
“Teachers have told us that sometimes it’s not age appropriate, it impacts a lot of the background knowledge; that’s great that they’re gaining great background knowledge … Half the state, half the county, believes that things are going on that don’t suit those parents, and how do you address that with what’s going on here? How do you divide it out?”
Hill assured the board students were being provided with age-appropriate reading materials. Reading substantive materials from English, science and social studies helps students build background knowledge that improves their literacy skills.
“So our fifth-graders are learning about the Civil War — fourth graders are learning about the Revolutionary War — through texts that are appropriate for them,” Director of Instruction and Curriculum Lo Dewalt said. “In the case where we have something where we want to provide additional guidance — we have done that for a couple of different books, and then allow teachers to be professionals and to make the choices that they need to make in response to their classroom.”
The entire board commended Dewalt and district staff on the literacy gains.
As part of a 2020 audit, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction made suggestions to improve K-12 reading at NHCS. This included the expansion of phonics instruction and a subscription to cohort one of the LETRS, an early childhood professional training program that NHCS participants have a 90% passing rate in.
Since then, the state has recognized the district twice for its literacy efforts, though its goal is to have 90% of our third-grade students reading on grade level by 2027.
Hill shared teachers have reported struggling with the curriculum adopted last year and her team has launched several resources, including in-house instructor videos, to assist in the transition. Though, these setbacks have not hindered literacy progress.
Hill reported all grade levels exceeded both national and state averages at the end of last school year. For kindergarten students in particular, they started below the national average and ended the year above it, with kindergarten and first grade scores above pre-pandemic levels.
This growth has also made a difference in EOG scores — every grade level taken them met or exceeded expectations on the reading EOG.
“First and foremost, all of this is an attribute to the hard work our teachers do every single day,” Hill said. “They have taken this hard, rigorous work that they’ve learned in letters, and they’re applying it in the classrooms, and it is making a difference, not just for our scores, but more importantly, in the lives of our students.”
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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