On Wednesday Oct. 7, WECT, Port City Daily, UNCW’s The Seahawk, and WHQR Public Media held a New Hanover County Board of Education forum for eight candidates running for office.
Two are incumbents: Republicans Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart. The other two Republicans are Chris Sutton and Dr. Amy Dunning. The four Democratic candidates are Wendy Dale, Brittnei LaRue, Margie Gerwirtzman, and Jerry Jones. There are four open seats in the 2026 midterm election.
Below are where candidates stand on some of the issues affecting the school board, as voiced at the forum. WHQR reporter Rachel Keith, along with Port City Daily reporters Brenna Flanagan and Sophia DePhillips, detailed main points, fact-checked some statements and further clarified comments made.
Josie Barnhart — Republican
Barnhart focused many of her statements on emphasizing her record as a board member since 2022. She was asked about her stance on student technology use, book challenges, and social workers in schools; on the former, she said she supports training for teachers but opposes students actively using AI.
Regarding social workers, Barnhart said she would like one for every school — the district currently has only 18 of these full-time positions among schools due to funding restraints. The Republican incumbent also alluded to reducing the district’s building footprint, something she has consistently pushed for the district to explore.
When asked about book challenges, Barnhart described her experience challenging a book obtained by her elementary-school-aged daughter.
“I absolutely think that there should be a process in place when parents have a concern about their kids to be fairly done,” Barnhart said. “That was not given to me nor my family.”
Barnhart was awarded the same process as other parents when she challenged the “Blended,” Sharon Draper’s book in which a young Black girl is shot by police and goes on to advocate for police reform.
Per the district’s process at the time, Barnhart’s challenge first headed to the school-level committee, which rejected the challenge, before going before a district-wide review committee, which upheld the school’s decision. Before Barnhart could appeal to the board — which would have raised a question on her conflict of interest — Superintendent Dr. Chris Barnes decided to override both committees and rule the book could only be checked out by fourth- and fifth-graders with parent permission.
At the time, Barnhart was critical not of the process itself but rather the disclosure of her identity from several anonymous sources to the media.
The district redacted Barnhart’s names from the challenge documents she filed, citing Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, though two attorneys who spoke to WHQR said they believed FERPA would not apply, as a book challenge with the potential to affect an entire school district would not constitute an educational record.
Additionally, the district did not redact the name of Katie Gates when she filed a challenge against Stamped in 2023.
Despite her identity being revealed, Barnhart didn’t raise her hand in support when asked if she wanted to keep who is behind book challenges anonymous.
We asked her about this vote – and what specific process she meant for her student during the “Blended” challenge and have yet to hear back.
Barnhart also claimed in her opening statements, as part of her record, the board has cut central office staff by 35%. Barnes has said in past meetings the number is 15% over the past four years.
Barnhart also didn’t raise her hand when asked if she would want the federal government to abolish the U.S. Department of Education; however, according to her primary campaign response to NC Values Coalition, she indicated that she did. WHQR reached out to Barnhart to clarify her vote but did not hear back by press.
Pat Bradford — Republican
Like her fellow incumbent, Bradford emphasized her record as a board member over the last four years and pointed to her focus on the district’s finances and building footprint and capacity. Bradford has chaired the district’s finance, capital and bond committee, which was instrumental in narrowing down what projects would be on the $320.5-million bond, on the ballot this November.
Bradford was asked how much funding she would like to see The New Hanover Community Endowment dedicate to improving the district’s low-performing schools, as she advocated for in her media questionnaire; Bradford did not share a dollar amount or specific plan. She explained it was important to build a relationship with The Endowment before asking for money.
The board member was also asked about her “emergency” vote to amend the district’s policy regarding what teachers can display in their classroom. The policy currently restricts displays to content from curriculum, New Hanover County, North Carolina and the United States. When asked why international flags are banned, Bradford said she “wanted to get a lot of the ideology off the walls.”
Bradford defended her emergency vote. She also claimed a high school student tried to unfurl a “Hamas flag” at a graduation. Other board members confirmed the unfurling of a flag at graduation in 2024, though no one said what flag it was. The district was unable to identify the flag.
It is unclear if Bradford meant the Palestinian flag, often flown in pro-Palestinian protests or gestures, rather than the “Hamas flag.” When Port City Daily asked Bradford to clarify, she said: “In some people’s minds they are synonymous, however, my memory has it as Hamas.”
An audience member also asked Bradford why she thought it was OK to ban books for the entire district. Bradford said the board has only removed one book — “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” — and would not consider her cohort a “book banning board.”
“That one book, it stayed in the library. It's there now. You want to go check it out? You can. It was in the classroom,” Bradford said.
The board removed “Stamped” from the curriculum in September 2023 after a parent challenged its inclusion in one AP English classroom. The book remained in high school libraries, but was also removed from middle and elementary school libraries.
Bradford also did not raise her hand when the group of candidates was asked if they would support abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. Bradford told Port City Daily in February 2025 she thought abolishing the department and transferring its powers to the state government would be beneficial.
WHQR and Port City Daily asked Bradford about the discrepancy.
“If I could have answered verbally instead of a raised hand,I would have said yes, with conditions,” Bradford wrote in an email. “I was a little cross with myself that I didn't actually do that, but I'm a rule follower.”
Wendy Dale — Democrat
Dale said she wanted to run because there was “a lot of partisan bickering. There’s a lot of drama, and those things shouldn’t really happen.” However, Dale has found herself in a tense situation with some in the New Hanover County Democratic Party, including Chair Jill Hopman. They only endorsed Jerry Jones, Margie Gerwirtzman, and Brittnei LaRue in the race.
She said some in the local party were spreading lies about her, but Hopman has said to WHQR that Dale was not truthful to her about her past legal record. Dale likened her situation to the party in-fighting over President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, which she claimed contributed to Trump winning a second term.
On policy, Dale floated the idea that she would like all district students to receive free breakfast and lunch and that some Title I schools "do have universal free meals.” She said she would look to a variety of partners like The Endowment, local, state, and federal sources to pay for this. She also said this measure would “reduce the stigma associated with identifying those who receive public assistance.”
The district said figuring out eligibility for free breakfast and lunch meals is a “complex formula,” but they “group schools together in a way to ensure the largest population possible are able to gain CEP status (community eligibility program). This allows free breakfast and lunch to the largest groups of students. Some of our schools simply don't qualify based on Free and Reduced Lunch status. There are districts that are in different financial situations, and all of their schools do qualify.”
She also pointed out the federal government should stay out of local decisions on school meals; however, there are federal meal standards in order to access the meal reimbursements.
Dale advocated for hiring more Black teachers in the district, too. She said the state has divested from these measures seen as “DEI” but that effort would have a positive impact on students of color. Some officials have noted that the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, in adition to more recent changes in EEOC policy, have made race-based employment goals more of a legal liability.
Amy Dunning — Republican
Dunning said she wants the state to look at providing higher wage increases for more veteran teachers, those who have been in public education for over 15 years. Those educators got a smaller increase in salary than teachers just starting out.
She said she would like to see an additional “5% to 8% to 17% — I mean let’s shoot for the moon, y’all.”
Dunning didn’t raise her hand when asked if she wanted the federal government to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. She said it was hard to follow along with the moderator but she “meant to raise my hand but did not.” She has stated earlier she does want to see that department go away.
She said she was proud of her 15 years teaching in public schools, but teaching at the private Myrtle Grove Christian School allows her to also pursue her faith openly (Barnhart is her colleague at the school as well). Dunning also said if she worked in New Hanover County Schools, she wouldn’t be able to run for a position on the school board, which is true.
In her closing statement, Dunning said quantitative data doesn’t tell the full story of a child and cited an example of one of her former students falling asleep in class because they were witnessing their mom “performing acts in a hotel bathroom so that they could afford to live.”
Margie Gerwirtzman — Democrat
Gerwirtzman discussed bipartisan funding for public schools, literacy rates in New Hanover County Schools, making school board meetings more accessible for families and improving teacher retention rates.
“My father is illiterate, lifelong, and I saw every barrier he faced that he could not overcome, and I don't want that struggle for any of our students here in New Hanover County,” Gewirtzman said, adding that, in some schools, literacy rates are "abysmal and have been for over 14 years.”
In 2026, New Hanover County Schools had a 58.5% proficiency for reading performance in grades 3-8, which is above the state’s proficiency rate of 55.1%. However, all five of the district’s low-performing schools — as designated by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction — have reading levels below both the district and state average. The lowest proficiency rate was the Rachel Freeman School of Engineering, hitting 11.3%.
Based on Port City Daily reporting from 2014, the annual North Carolina School Report Cards for 2012-2013, New Hanover County Schools had a reading proficiency rate of 50.9% compared to the state’s average of 43.9%.
Gewirtzman did not specify how she would work to increase reading proficiency across the district.
Additionally, when asked how she would lobby at a bipartisan level to get more funding for public schools, Gewirtzman said she would call on Duke Energy to see if they would subsidize energy for the public school systems, referencing a North Carolina Association of Educators plea to the company. Gewirtzman said this would create more flexibility in the schools budget.
While the NCAE did not ask Duke Energy to subsidize energy for public schools, they did release a statement in May 2026 asking the company to support Senate Bill 943 — the Kids Over Corporations Act. The bill sets a 5% income tax for corporations, which the NCAE claims would generate billions for public schools.
“In order to run our school, we need money,” Gewirtzman said. “In order for us to keep mental health in our schools, we need money. We need money for our orchestra, for our arts.”
Jerry Jones — Democrat
Jones said he would support a measure to fund culturally relevant programming into low-performing schools to help them improve. He also said he wanted schools that were “kind and more inclusive, even though that’s a dirty word.” Over the past four years, the Republican-led school board has removed terms like diversity, inclusion, and equity out of the board’s policies, claiming it was following the directives of state and federal governments.
On the topic of student suspension rates, Jones said even though board policies have changed to not look at issues of DEI, they can still collect demographic data on the students who are being suspended.
The district does collect this data.
Barnes said the district looks generally at ethnicity, gender, grade level, and individualized education plan (IEP) status. He added further: “I pay special attention to K-2 suspension data to better support the board with questions about primary grade suspensions.”
Jones added he fears in today’s classroom he might have been “punished more than redirected.” New Hanover County Schools has adopted the CHAMPS model from Safe and Civil Schools – prompting educators to use strategies of redirection.
Jones also said he would listen to key constituencies over a longer period of time, if and when the district would ever have to consolidate schools.
“It's incumbent upon you as an elected person to have that tough conversation with the public, with the constituencies that are set against that decision,” he said.
The district is looking at potentially consolidating certain schools, meaning that some might close, in an upcoming 10-year plan. The district is citing costs to run facilities that are underenrolled. This would also help consolidate staffing positions.
Brittnei LaRue — Democrat
At the forum, LaRue said she is running because every student deserves a “good, strong public school” and our community deserves a board that's focused on the work, a board that sets clear priorities, that asks good questions, uses public dollars responsibly, and that holds itself accountable.”
When asked about specific policies she would advance during the forum, LaRue didn’t give clear-cut answers. Instead, she said she would evaluate the district’s current operations before deciding on a path forward.
When an audience member asked for her views on student technology use, she emphasized following state-teaching requirements involving the technology. LaRue also said she would like to see the district educate parents on the use, so they are “on the same page with what's actually happening versus what they think is happening.”
When asked what community partnerships she would like to see, she mentioned a teacher pipeline similar to the healthcare pipeline partnership with the county and The Endowment. New Hanover County Schools does offer an Educational Pathways Scholarship for college students who come to teach in the district.
During the hand-raising portion of the forum, LaRue showed support, along with Jones and Gewirtzman, for asking the state to suspend the Opportunity Scholarship program for all incomes. Starting in 2014, the program used state funds to pay for some students of low incomes to attend private school; in 2023, state Republican lawmakers removed the income caps, expanding eligibility and, with it, funding, for the program.
LaRue later qualified her favorable vote by saying she would support a phase-out approach to eligibility instead of immediately slashing the program.
“I would want [a resolution] to address how we're going to support families that are getting vouchers, because I know I've talked to some people, and they're not all wealthy,” she said. “And I think that we should talk first about that before we address them just cutting them off and assuming that they don't need the money or they just will be fine if things continue forward.”
Chris Sutton — Republican
Sutton said his priorities are finding more funding to support additional counselors, teacher assistants, orchestra teachers, physical therapists and other student-facing positions. He also reiterated what Barnes has said in past board meetings about the district operating on a “subsistence level.”
While the state legislature mandated through this year’s budget bill to allow for students to be excused for up to four hours of religious studies a week, Sutton said the decision should have been made at the local level, not at the state.
When asked about curriculum materials in the classroom, he said educators need to shoot for “political neutrality.” Most, according to Sutton, are doing their jobs, but there are some who “try and inject their own political bias into things.”
He also wants the state to find a way to reimburse public schools if a private or charter school student returns to New Hanover County Schools. As of now, if that student isn’t counted at the beginning of the year, the state doesn’t send funds for that student.
Sutton didn’t raise his hand when asked if he supported students going to the school closest to their neighborhood. He qualified it in his closing statement:
“I want to look at a 10-year study and see where the growth is going to be. So, what is closest to the school right now might not be what's best for us in the future. So, we need to be projecting that. [...] The 10-year plan plays into that because if we condense our schools, bigger schools, we can help ease the amount of support staff that we have to do to still provide an amazing education for our children.”
In terms of furthering support for teachers, Sutton proposed an idea to lessen the property tax burden on veteran educators. WHQR asked a county spokesperson about the viability of the idea and did not hear back by press.
Sutton also mentioned he would like the district to look into a new bereavement policy so educators would not have to take sick leave when a loved one has died.
The district wrote in an email regarding clarification of the policy, the state doesn’t offer bereavement leave, but they work with the employee to access any leave they have, which is either sick or personal leave.
