NEW HANOVER COUNTY — After his late-night termination, the superintendent has sent well-wishes to the district upon his absence.
READ MORE: NHC school board fires Superintendent Foust
Charles Foust, the first Black superintendent who served at New Hanover County Schools since 2020, was fired by the school board Tuesday evening. Five of its seven board members voted unanimously on the move; Stephanie Kraybill and Josie Barnhart were absent.
The former superintendent, who was taken by surprise Tuesday from his termination, sent a statement to Port City Daily:
“I am proud of the students and all employees of NHCS. We accomplished so many great things in the last 4 years. I am grateful for how my peers, the state and the community have recognized the diligent work put forth for student academic achievement. I wish NHCS nothing but the best; I know the students will continue to achieve excellence…focus on the focus.”
It was provided by his lawyer Gary Shipman. PCD reached out to ask Shipman if Foust had plans to seek a lawsuit, if he thinks his termination is warranted and whether he has a response to the climate survey results divulged at Tuesday’s meeting.
The survey was taken by roughly 2,000 staff and teachers, who indicated they didn’t feel valued, heard or appreciated by district leadership at New Hanover County Schools. One person commented:
“If I were on the current Board of Education I would recommend to end all the contracts of all the superintendents in New Hanover County School. Our students, teachers, and community deserve better than what is being offered by this current regime.”
The survey also indicated a larger majority of respondents took issue with the school board. 80% considered them “out of touch” and more bound by a political agenda than working for teachers and students.
In a separate statement, Shipman said the survey is “illustrative” of the worsened climate in which the schools are operating but primarily placed blame on the board.
“The deliberate efforts by a majority of this board [is] to destroy public education as we know it,” he wrote. “Dr. Foust and his senior leadership team had to play the awful hand they were dealt. It’s unfortunate that the radical majority of this Board did not resign in the face of the survey results, but I’m content that — like most everything else that the majority of this board does — these individuals will simply ignore it so as to facilitate their political mission that will continue to be destructive of public education.”
The board went into an hour-and-a-half closed session Tuesday to deliberate a personnel issue, which ended up being the decision to fire the superintendent. They called in Foust briefly during the closed session and also brought in assistant superintendent of human resources, Chris Barnes, separately at one point.
Once the board was back at the dais, Foust wasn’t present for the official roll call to end his contract; no discussion was had to offer the reason why. The board then instated Barnes as acting superintendent.
“Not interim,” Chair Pete Wildeboer clarified to Nick Craig Wednesday morning, on the radio host’s Republican-leaning talk show, Wilmington’s Morning News, on WAAV-AM.
Wildeboer appears on the show after every school board meeting and said Barnes stepped into his new acting superintendent role Wednesday morning.
Barnes said in a statement released by the district Wednesday he aims for a smooth transition: “My priority is to provide stability and continuity for our students, staff, and community while we work together to move forward.”
Port City Daily reached out to Chair Wildeboer with procedural questions regarding the hunt for a new superintendent, which went unanswered. The goal, Wildeboer said on the radio show, is for the school board to work with the State Board Association to instate an interim superintendent.
“That person will carry us during that search for the new superintendent,” he told Craig.
Wildeboer also cited state statute 132 preventing a government body from discussing private personnel matters in a public forum and didn’t give more details as to why the board took this measure against Foust Tuesday. The board voted to fire Foust after the survey results were presented, which included more than 2,000 comments from teachers and staff, many calling out Foust by name for the problems and low morale.
“Many of us feel a radical disconnect with Dr. Foust and the senior leadership. There is too much pressure being trickled down, it is killing morale on a large scale, and I attribute that to his leadership style. I have worked for other superintendents and it was not this way,” one person wrote.
Yet, almost double the amount of commenters took issue with the school board, which the chair admitted in the school board meeting Tuesday he had not been present in schools as much as he should have been. He vowed to work harder to correct it and also suggested hosting a town hall in August for educators to speak out. Yet, it’s unclear how that will go over, since 65% of the anonymous surveyors said they feared retaliation.
Kraybill wrote to PCD just after midnight on Wednesday that she didn’t think the board acted transparently on its vote, as it was never mentioned Tuesday the contract termination would be brought up as an action item. She said Wildeboer, as chair, is supposed to inform board members of impending actions when they’re not at meetings, but said that didn’t happen.
“I am disgusted with the decisions this board continues to make, coupled with the shady way that my colleagues continue to conduct business, both tonight and since the 2022 candidates were seated,” she wrote, referring to Republican board members Mason, Bradford and Barnhart.
She also didn’t think Foust did anything to warrant immediate termination and did not agree with the move, a unanimous decision by all there, including Democrats Stephanie Walker and Hugh McManus.
Barnhart didn’t answer PCD’s question about whether she supported the superintendent’s termination, as she wasn’t present either, but said she is focused on helping find new leadership.
The board will have to pay out the superintendent the rest of his year’s contract, a quarter-million dollars. PCD asked the district how much that would amount to and from where the money will come. The school board faced a $20-million budget shortfall this year and was given $9.2 million by county commissioners to help pad it.
The district answered that PCD’s questions would have to be taken up by the board chair, who did not respond.
Have tips or comments? Email info@portcitydaily.com
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
