Barnes has garnered bi-partisan approval from both the board's Democratic and Republican members, and the vote to extend his tenure was bipartisan.
Democratic members Stephanie Walker and Hugh McManus wanted to retain Barnes through the upcoming budget season to provide stability.
Dissenting members Stephanie Kraybill and Josie Barnhart — Republicans, though they've often ended up on opposite ends of contentious votes — agreed with their colleagues that Barnes was doing a good job leading the district but didn’t want to take an official vote before the three newest members were sworn into office in December.
Who will take those seats isn't clear yet, as the race is still potentially up in the air. On Thursday, the New Hanover County Board of Elections is slated to process over 1,750 absentee ballots and 1,900 provisional ballots, which could affect who retains those seats. As of now, Democrats Judy Justice and Tim Merrick and Republicans David Perry are the top vote-getters. Democrat Jerry Jones and Republicans Nikki Bascome and Natosha Tew follow them. The outstanding ballots could shift the outcome, especially the third-place seat held by Perry.
After the 2024 election is decided and those members take their seats, the board will begin searching for a permanent superintendent — which could be Barnes or an outside candidate. Barnes said he would respect the board’s decision and wants what’s best for the school system. In the meantime, Barnes told the board that he’s happy with the overall workplace climate but wants to reassess in March.
Future of the board’s legal firm
In another bipartisan move, the members signaled their approval of their new attorneys, Norwood Blanchard and Brian Kromke, saying they’d vote on a contract extension with the new board. Legal representation has been a contentious issue for the board, especially their former firm, Vogel Law. Among the points of disagreement with Jonathan Vogel was that Kraybill, McManus, and Walker thought he was pursuing partisan legal battles, adding that they didn’t trust him. While Blanchard has run as a Republican politician, board members on both sides the aisle say he and Kromke are professionals.
McManus joked with the attorneys, “The only critique I have is that one of you doesn’t wear socks.”
Nonetheless, some of the culture war battles continue. Kraybill mentions that the members spent around $2,000 consulting with the attorneys in October alone about having pocket Constitutions branded by a right-leaning organization delivered to all 8th-grade students. The New Hanover County chapter of Moms for Liberty provided them. They had to consult with the attorneys because of the labeling — if they had come unlabeled like the ones provided by the Daughters of the Revolution, there likely wouldn’t have been a legal discussion.
While these issues may drive up costs, members like Pete Wildeboer and Melissa Mason said they appreciated having locally-based legal support to save on travel expenses. The Vogel Firm used to travel from Charlotte, and Tharrington Smith LLC traveled from Raleigh previously — on the board's dime.
NHCS Accountability Report
Elizabeth Murray, the director of testing and accountability, presented to the board on proficiency and growth results from last school year.
Murray said NHCS, the 12th largest district in the state, outperformed the state average across all grades and subjects; however, she acknowledged that proficiency scores dipped and then rebounded after the pandemic.
One of the district's bright spots was students' performance on the English II exam—students in that subject area exceeded scores before the pandemic, with a 67% pass rate. Math I is a challenging spot for the district, but she said, “That is an area of concern statewide.”
Murray also highlighted that the district’s graduation rate (88%) is slightly higher than the state average of 87%. She reiterated that 80% of NHCS either met or exceeded growth expectations on those end-of-year tests. Growth is measured by how similar students came into the year versus how they improved toward the end. SAS software company measures this growth through EVAAS, a proprietary algorithm on teacher impact.
Furthermore, half of NHCS schools received an A or B on their school report card. However, the state is looking to change this measurement. It’s based on 80% achievement rates on these end-of-grade tests and 20% on the growth scores.
She also told the board and Barnes some news—that 93% of teachers met or exceeded growth metrics for their teaching.
While Murray pointed out the district's successes, the Turnaround Task Force is discussing the racial and economic disparities between students on these tests. For example, the difference between White and Black elementary students' scores on math and reading (fifth grade has science) is 49 points on average — the difference between White and Hispanic elementary students is 33 points.
New Hanover High School update
Leann Lawrence, the district’s capital projects manager, said that some New Hanover High students are now in the mobile units; they were delayed in opening them by the start of the school year. NHHS students were displaced because 16 classrooms on campus had to close for major renovations.
She told the board that Phase 1 repairs are completed, which means they stabilized the building’s foundation and have temporary shoring to stabilize some of the school’s walls.
They now need to embark on Phase 2 to replace the eastern and western walls. They’ll also be replacing windows and putting in new ceilings and flooring. Lawrence said she hopes that, on November 18, the New Hanover County Commission will vote to provide $6.4 million to finish Phase 2 so that classrooms can open by the start of next school year. While Phase 2 will cost about $7.6 million — NHCS will provide $1.3 million in funding from cost savings from Phase 1 and grants from the NC lottery funds.
She added that they continue working on the school's Master Plan and Facility Study. When that’s complete, likely by the end of the school year, they’ll understand how to rebuild the rest of New Hanover. Commissioners already allocated $300,000 to complete those plans.
Resolution passes unanimously to request full IDEA funding
Walker brought the resolution to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congress is supposed to fund 40% of the program, but historically, it’s only given enough to fund 11%. Assistant Superintendent Julie Varnam said these millions in funds would support exceptional children's (EC) services and support staff. Resolutions are meant to urge lawmakers to change policy or funding.
The district cut some of these support staff during tough budget negotiations last year. Walker said they need all the financial support they can get to provide these services to these EC students.
Call to Audience
Over three-quarters of the public commenters were from the Love Our Children organization. They said they’ve been coming to see the board for over 20 months to ask that they write in the policy that the principal/administrator must call parents or guardians of children under eight before suspending them. Principals have argued that they typically call but can’t always when dealing with the fallout of serious student misbehavior.
Additionally, these members of the public called on the district to provide consistent suspension data. They said they used to receive monthly reports, but now they no longer do. They also called for more training on behavior management and support.
Barnes told the public that less than 1% of K-2 students have been suspended so far this year. He also said he is strengthening the communication process regarding student misbehavior, saying he would present the proposed changes to the principals and then unveil them to the public.
Elizabeth Budd Nelson, a former NHCS teacher, also came out to tell the board why she left teaching after 12 years. She said her former school didn’t have enough teacher assistants (TAs) while simultaneously dealing with overcrowded classrooms.
“Teachers are overworked and underpaid,” adding that she now works for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which allows her to spend her time professionally advocating for teachers.
