NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The New Hanover County Board of Education has censured one of its members after twice before coming close to doing so.
In a 6-1 vote, the board censured David Perry at a special meeting on Friday because of his decision to leave shortly after the beginning of the Sept. 1 meeting. His abrupt exit was preempted by an argument with Chair Pete Wildeboer.
Aside from the formal denunciation of his actions, Perry will be taken off committees he serves on — including legislative and curriculum — until a new board is sworn in this December.
Perry appealed to the board by saying he was being treated unfairly, both at the Sept. 1 meeting and at the Oct. 9 censure meeting.
“I was trying to do the right thing for the school district and I felt I’m not even being heard,” Perry said.
Perry exited the September board meeting after his request to discuss board raises — approved in this year’s budget — was rejected. Perry contended the board should have taken a separate vote on the raises, particularly after budgeting for a 3% increase and the state came back with a 7.8% average increase. However, the board maintains it followed policy as done in previous years.
Perry’s motion to add the discussion to the agenda failed to gain a second and died. When Perry expressed frustration about not being able to explain his stance, Chair Wildeboer called him out of order. Perry then accused Wildeboer of being out of order before standing up to leave.
“I find myself excused for the evening because I’m not going to be dealing with people who don’t even follow their own rules,” Perry said.
Perry did not return for the remainder of the meeting.
On Friday, Vice Chair Melissa Mason, who lost her seat in the primary election, made the motion to censure Perry, though clarified she takes “no pleasure” in doing so. Perry was censured for violating policy 2120, the code of ethics.
She said he violated several components of policy, including performing the duties of one’s office, conducting oneself in alignment with the goals and policies of the board, and modeling civility.
“As board members and leaders in this district, we are held to a higher standard of conduct,” Mason said. “The actions taken by Mr. Perry on September 1 do not reflect the expected standard for leadership.”
Perry was given 10 minutes to make an argument in his defense. He requested an additional minute to issue an apology, though this was shot down in a 6-1 vote, Perry in favor.
Thus, Perry began his statement with an apology for leaving the meeting.
“I deprived the board, the school district, and the community of my input and votes on the matters that were before the board that evening,” he said.
He also pointed out all other board members had missed at least one meeting, aside from Pat Bradford.
Perry stood by his protest to the chair’s actions, arguing he should have been allowed to explain his motion. Wildeboer explained Friday that Robert’s Rules of Order for board meetings requires a board member to obtain a second before a motion is discussed.
Perry also maintained the board was doing something wrong by not taking a separate vote on the raises.
“I know the voters didn’t elect me because I’m the most eloquent speaker out there, and I don’t even think the voters elected me because they even agree with everything I said or my campaign promises,” Perry said. “I think they voted for me because even though they might have disagreed with me, they liked the fact that I was a fighter … that I was going to stand tall and fight for change.”
Perry also tried to compare his actions with past actions of other board members, his argument being his compatriots had not been censured for similar violations code of ethics violations. However, Wildeboer said Perry needed to keep his comments pertaining to the Sept. 1 meeting; when Perry appealed the decision, the other board members backed the chair.
Still, the rest of the board was unanimous in its decision.
“Actions have consequences,” Bradford said. “When a first-grader disrupts a classroom and storms, or attempts to storm, out of that classroom, there’s a consequence. … Were a school district employee to disrupt a district meeting and storm out, there would be a consequence.”
Tim Merrick, who fought against his own censure by the board in April 2025, said he didn’t think the move was productive generally speaking, but noted Perry had exhibited a pattern of behavior consistent with a censure.
“What else do we have?” Merrick said.
Perry has been close to censure twice before, but in both incidents was only removed from committee assignments.
In August 2025, the board voted to remove Perry from his committee assignments for four months following accusations he violated closed-session confidentiality. Then in August 2026, he was accused of violating the code of ethics for making disparaging remarks about other board members on his social media. He was removed from committee assignments again for three months.
Merrick did encourage the board to put the censure behind them and advance a goal of cooperation with Perry, despite the disciplinary action.
Perry closed his comments by wishing the code of ethics would not be used as a “sword” against board members and hoped he would be able to build better relationships with new board members after the November election.
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