The New Hanover County school board recently hosted a town hall to hear directly from staff about their concerns surrounding the district’s workplace climate, student behavior, and what qualities the next superintendent should have. The board organized the meeting after damning climate survey results for both district and board leadership were released in July.
One question in the May climate survey asked whether the staff felt “comfortable raising issues and concerns regarding district policies, procedures, and curriculum that are important to [them] without fear of retaliation.” Of the nearly 2,000 employees who responded, only 14% agreed.
Now, a NHCS employee says one of their fears has been proven to be justified.
At the August 13 town hall, 70 employees showed up. One, in particular, came to voice concerns about the board’s partisanship — and to ask whether they would commit to hiring a future superintendent without regard to political affiliation. The employee doesn’t want to be named for fear of further alleged retaliation by the board or the interim superintendent. For this article, WHQR will refer to them as “Taylor.”
Taylor thought the town hall was a safe place to express their opinion — and spoke passionately at the time. Taylor was sitting at a table with other employees and two board members. Press and the public were not allowed close enough to the table to hear, but district staff took notes, which recorded Taylor saying, “Culture filters down from the top, and this board is a dumpster fire, with all due respect, during the display policy conversation a board member mocked teachers which is why there is no respect.”
What came next from district leadership, Taylor didn’t expect.
Taylor had prepared some remarks to read to the board at the town hall, which they shared with WHQR.
A portion of those remarks urged the board to choose a superintendent that “has nothing, zero, zilch to do with that person’s political affiliation.”
Their remarks continued, ”That seemed to be a big pain point with our last superintendent, to the point that the NHC GOP put a statement specifically talking about the fact that he was a Democrat, and they were disappointed that conservatives of the board voted to extend his contract in August of [2023]. [...] [Further], I was disheartened that certain members of the board signed on to a letter to the GOP citing their, at that point, accomplishments eight months into the term. And the very first [one] listed was to ‘elect a conservative Chairman and Vice Chair.’ Why in the world as board members would that be your first concern and the first thing you pat yourselves on the back on.”
Taylor said they were interrupted by a board member, whom they don’t want to name, and was told to “move on." They claimed they couldn’t finish asking the board members to commit to picking someone based on merit, not political party.
Taylor followed up the next day with their question in an email to the board. Only two members responded. One said they would pick someone based on merit rather than a political party. Another member began an argument with the employee over email. This argument upset the employee, so they filed an Ethix 360 complaint detailing the exchange.
On Friday, August 16, a few days after the town hall, Taylor was called into human resources for a nearly hour-long meeting. They say HR staff had issues with their “tone” at the town hall and said they were not called to discuss their Ethix 360 complaint. One HR representative, according to Taylor, said they were acting “crazy” and were “too emotional.” Taylor said their direct supervisor did not know they were called into this meeting.
Taylor said HR provides specific guidance on approaching employees with concerns over workplace behavior. It’s typically the process of ‘chat, talk, write, send.’ Basically, the employee gets one or two verbal warnings, depending on the circumstance and gravity of the situation. If the problem does not subside, it’s ‘write,’ a more formal letter from the person’s immediate supervisor, usually having an action plan for them to improve. After that, the ‘send’ would be formal, district-level documentation to be placed in their personnel file. The next step would be more serious, such as the employee being placed on administrative leave, suspension, or even termination.
Taylor maintains that they have received high marks, mainly achieving ‘exceeding expectations’ for performance, over their years of service to the district. There have been no past instances of a lack of professionalism.
After this Friday meeting, Taylor sent a follow-up email asking HR further questions about how it would impact their role in the district. They were then called into another nearly hour-long meeting with HR on Wednesday, August 21.
At this second meeting, the employee was given a letter from [interim] superintendent Dr. Christopher Barnes and the acting assistant superintendent of human resources, Jennifer Braswell-Geller.
This time, the issue wasn’t Taylor's tone but a statement that the employee needed to consult policies 7205 (standards for professional conduct) and 7300 (staff responsibilities) because their conduct at the town hall “[was] inappropriate and not aligned with expectations of employees in the district.”
The reasons the district gave were that the employee “declared the [BOE] a ‘dumpster fire’ in front of other employees, board members, and the [interim] superintendent but claimed you made the declaration in jest. Also, you imitated a Board member’s comment from a July Board meeting that you deemed ‘mocking’ in front of other employees, board members, and the [interim] superintendent.”
The letter said the district respects and appreciates the employee's right to voice concerns “consistent with NHCS policies.”
HR indicated the written letter would not be placed in Taylor’s personnel file and would not be used in any evaluation. The letter was so Taylor could use the “information to voice [their] opinion as an NHCS employee while following employee policies.”
HR also said Taylor’s Ethix 360 report would be “addressed separately from this incident.” Taylor said they have not had a follow-up on this to date.
Barnes told WHQR that he could not comment on personnel matters but said that all employees and district representatives needed to model professionalism for students (no students were present nor invited to this town hall).
Taylor told WHQR that they felt they were voicing concerns as an employee, a constituent, and a taxpayer. They noted this event was after work hours. In the letter, the district maintains Taylor was acting as an NHCS representative rather than a constituent.
Taylor contends that the series of HR meetings and the written letter were a form of retaliation for them. In the letter, the district maintains that they simply informed Taylor that their behavior must align with district policies.
Other employees at the town hall, listed in the meeting notes, said they had concerns similar to this employee's. As for the board's partisanship, one person said, “It should be policy-driven, not partisan-driven.” Another said the future superintendent's “choice has nothing to do with their political affiliation—[it should be] non-political.”
The issue of retaliation was mentioned at least three times in the notes, with one person saying this town hall “takes away a lot of the fear that there would be some sort of retaliation.” Two participants said they feared “gotcha” moments on the board's behalf. However, some participants said they wanted the members to be more visible in schools.
Power imbalance
According to the district, there has been accountability for behavior in this case. Still, Taylor was left wondering, what about the board’s accountability?
While the board members are also subject to a code of conduct, it’s unlikely that any form of accountability will be seen outside the electoral process. Some members were elected after consistently accusing staff of grooming students and indoctrinating them with liberal ideologies on the campaign trail. Some, while in office, have even continued their attacks on teachers, claiming they are biased in their teaching and continue to say they indoctrinate and not educate.
While the public (including NHCS employees) can voice concerns about district and board behavior at least once a month, a verbal rebuke is likely the end of the road for the complaint. For employees, the stakes are higher for their speech.
Further, the superintendent and central office likely don’t hold much sway over the board, as the board’s primary responsibility is holding the superintendent accountable.
However, the board members can police themselves. Former board member Judy Justice, now running for office, was censured in 2022. And if there were a censure in the future, it would likely come down to the typical 4-3 vote, meaning Republican Stephanie Kraybill votes with Democrats Stephanie Walker and Hugh McManus — although this isn’t always the case.
Not alone
Most NHCS teachers and staff responding to the May survey said they didn’t feel supported by district leadership (66%). Around 72% disagree that there is “an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.”
Roughly two-thirds felt the Board of Education didn’t value their expertise as educational professionals. An overwhelming 80% say board members are unaware of the realities and challenges that teachers and public schools face.
Further, like Taylor at the town hall, many respondents said partisan overreach has gotten out of control, and the board has to focus on education, not ideology. When the results were unveiled at the July meeting, where former superintendent Dr. Charles Foust was fired later that evening, board member Pat Bradford disputed this finding from the survey, saying that “the four of us [herself, Pete Wildeboer, Josie Barnhart, and Melissa Mason] are accused of [playing] politics, but no one talks about the other political side.”
Bradford also said at this meeting that the staff pushback against the controversial school grounds and classroom display policy was unwarranted.
“If all you care about is the activism of your ideology being displayed on the walls, then there's a problem. I didn't realize the problem was nearly as big as it is, but the pushback has been severe that maybe there's more activism going on in the classrooms than we thought there was. But this is pretty basic, you know, we're talking about the American flag. Now, if you're anti-America, you're not going to want the American flag on the wall. If you're anti-state of North Carolina, you're not going to want the state of North Carolina flag on the wall and so on down the list,” she said.
Moving forward?
Dr. Christopher Barnes was sworn in as interim superintendent on Tuesday, September 3. During his first report to the board and the public, Barnes said over the last month and a half, he’d been going on a ‘listening tour’ across the district. He said he’s asked the following: “What's one thing you would never change about the district? What's one thing you would change immediately? And what's the biggest rock or stumbling block in your way?”
He said he’s been doing this because the May climate survey gave the district survey quantitative data, “but what we're missing is the qualitative data.” Qualitative data would be things like comments—the close to 2,000 staff who answered it left 2,414 comments.
“We want to know what the survey says and what it means. So, I've been face-to-face with over 1,800 New Hanover County staff in the last month and a half, so I can listen to what the survey means to them. I'll be organizing, collating all that feedback into some themes, and presenting it to the board and the public at the next agenda review meeting if it pleases the board,” Barnes said.
He added that he wanted to thank the staff for their “candor and perspective. It will take all of us to ensure a positive climate in New Hanover County Schools.”
During his report, Board Chair Wildeboer also thanked everyone for attending the town hall and said that staff gave them “very valuable insights and opinions that the board was able to utilize in moving forward.”
NHCS Staff Town Hall Notes by Ben Schachtman on Scribd
