New Hanover County Board of Education

On Monday, the New Hanover County school board decided to ban education activist Sandy Eyles from meetings and committees until June 30, 2023. Eyles voiced disappointment with the decision, but it's also a shorter ban than district staff originally wanted to impose.

In July, WHQR reported that New Hanover County Schools and the University of North Carolina Wilmington couldn’t locate the results of a federal grant worth over $10 million, from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Education, to study violence prevention in the mid-2000s. But more recently, evidence of the grant has come to light.

At Tuesday evening’s New Hanover County School Board meeting, the Republican slate of Pat Bradford, Josie Barnhart, Melissa Mason, and Pete Wildeboer took their oaths of office.

At Tuesday's New Hanover County school board meeting, members discussed the results of the staff climate surveys — which contained some painfully negative feedback. Also on the agenda: the use of federal ESSER funds, rising costs for elementary schools, the Sophic Solutions contract, the Call to the Audience format, and the pandemic.

On Friday, the New Hanover County school board voted to censure Judy Justice 5 to 2, with Justice and Stephanie Walker dissenting.

At the Tuesday, January 4th, 2022, New Hanover County School Board meeting, members voted to consider a censure for member Judy Justice for allegedly disclosing confidential personnel information.

The New Hanover County Health Department reports a Covid-19 positivity rate of close to 21%. Yesterday, the school board took note of that figure and voted 5 to 2 to reinstate the mask mandate — with the exception of student athletes participating in a sporting event.

New Hanover County’s teaching assistants are calling for the school board to raise their base salaries from $14 dollars an hour to $17. But the superintendent and district staff say their hands are tied until the next budgetary cycle.

On Tuesday the New Hanover County School Board repealed the mask mandate, effective immediately — voting 4-3, with Board Members Stefanie Adams, Judy Justice, and Stephanie Walker dissenting.

The meeting got off to a tense start as members of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys congregated at the back of the room. Once things got underway, teachers, especially teaching assistants, criticized staff shortages and low pay. They issued calls to the board and the superintendent for better working conditions.