NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The separation between former Superintendent Charles Foust and the New Hanover County Schools district is final.
READ MORE: ‘Margin of error is a lot smaller’: Black community members speak out on Foust firing
ALSO: Local NAACP questions superintendent’s firing, GOP praises school board
According to documents released by the school board, both parties signed off on the matter in the last two weeks. The school board voted unanimously — with Stephanie Kraybill and Josie Barnhart absent — on July 2 to terminate Foust, the district’s first Black superintendent hired in 2020.
Foust will receive $256,927.23, the total annual aggregate salary he was set to earn beginning the new fiscal year, July 1. This includes the 3% raise passed by the North Carolina General Assembly last year; the agreement notes there was a dispute about this as it was ratified after Foust’s separation, but the two parties settled it.
Pay is covered from July 3, 2024, to July 3, 2025 and could come in one or more checks, tendered within 10 days of the agreement, signed off on Aug. 6. by Chair Pete Wildeboer. The payout will be funneled through Foust’s attorneys, Shipman & Wright, LLP.
Separate from the agreement, the board also will pay Foust’s prorated salary for July 1 and 2, as well as the balance of his annual leave time, estimated at 240 hours. The hours can be transferred to a subsequent employer if Foust chooses.
“The parties all desire to buy their peace, resolve their dispute, and settle any and all other potential disputes between them without resorting to litigation,” the agreement details.
Thus, Foust must refrain from any claims of wrongful discharge, retaliation, discrimination, breach of contract or unpaid wages, bonuses, insurance, vacation, expenses and the like. He also signed off on abstention from verbalizing or publishing disparaging statements or comments about the board that could be considered defamatory, libelous or slanderous.
The board agreed to the same, as to not present Foust in any “false light before the public.”
Likewise, the board consented to keeping the information in Foust’s employee file confidential, not to be inspected unless allowed under state statute.
“The Board shall never report Foust was released for disciplinary reasons,” it added.
Both parties accepted the agreement as transactional and not an admission of liability — “neither party shall be considered a prevailing party for any purpose,” it states.
Upon Foust’s termination last month, a reason was not given for his release and the agreement doesn’t reveal how the board came to the conclusion.
“Because it is a personnel matter, the Board will not be making any further comments on this topic,” the board chair released in a statement Thursday evening.
Foust’s termination came after a presentation by board member Stephanie Walker regarding a district climate survey held in the spring. It detailed poor scores for both the district and board, showing almost half of the roughly 2,000 surveyors disagreed the district was a “good place to work and learn.” Nor did they feel satisfied, valued or supported by district leadership. This led to low morale, according to some, with many calling out Foust personally for being out of touch with classroom needs and even more wanting the board to leave politics out of decision-making.
The board is holding a round table town hall next week to hear more from staff and educators; it will take place Tuesday, Aug, 13, 5 p.m. Suspected to last roughly two hours, topics will cover what employees want to see out of their next superintendent, as well as address workplace climate and student behaviors.
The full agreement:
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