NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The New Hanover County Board of Education voted Tuesday to seek consultants to help with its superintendent search and finances.
READ MORE: NHCS board continues with Chris Barnes in leadership role as interim superintendent
Board member Pat Bradford brought forth the motion to bring in a firm to help guide the district’s search for a permanent superintendent.
Last week, the board announced Christopher Barnes would continue in the leadership role; he was the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources-turned-acting superintendent after the board fired Charles Foust last month. Barnes will be sworn in as interim superintendent officially at the board’s Sept. 3 meeting.
Though the vote to hire a search firm was unanimous, there were mixed feelings on the timeline of the hiring process of a new superintendent. Some board members, like Bradford, advocated for a slower undertaking, in consideration of the incoming board electees this fall; Stephanie Walker, Stephanie Kraybill and Hugh McManus will not be running for reelection.
“There’s no way we can responsibly attract and interview and hire a new superintendent by the time we have new board members and there’s no point in traveling at a fevered pitch,” Bradford said.
The outgoing board members defended their right to influence the new pick.
“As one of the senior board members that has been here the longest, I do understand the whole discussion of not rushing and letting the next board hire — I get that part,” Walker said. “But I’ve been here long enough to at least have a big say in it, and I think it’s only fair to let this current board do as much as possible before this new board gets here.”
Walker is running for a county commissioners seat. Both McManus and Kraybill agreed with Walker, saying they didn’t see the problem with moving forward with search firm partnerships immediately.
Bradford suggested the district hire someone like Dr. Stewart Hobbs, an educational facilities consultant with the firm sfl+a architects. He has superintendent experience in Sampson, Stokes and Yadkin counties. The board member later clarified she is not favoring any one consultant and supports reviewing multiple agencies.
As for the timeline, Bradford pointed to the district’s last superintendent search as proof the newly elected board members should have influence over their leader. Foust was hired in September of 2020, two months before Walker, Kraybill and McManus were voted in, while Wildeboer would come in later to replace Bill Rivenbark, who left the board to seek his county commission seat.
Bradford said the district needed a “period of peace” under the guidance of Interim Superintendent Barnes to get the district in order for its next leader. One of those to-dos would be to hire a consultant to advise on budgetary and bond matters.
“We just came through an unbelievably poor budget process where we terrorized the entire staff, we gave the news media an enormous amount of things to get clickbait with, and it was terrorizing for everyone,” Bradford said.
Though her motion passed, Wildeboer and Kraybill dissented. The latter said she thought it was premature to vote on the matter without consulting Ashley Sutton, chief financial officer who was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. Kraybill said Sutton would be able to help with a cost-benefit analysis. The district is tight on funds after dealing with a $20-million shortfall and emergency capital needs arose at New Hanover High School.
Bradford said Sutton told her there’s an estimated $14,600 in savings starting Tuesday that could be used to pay a firm, though McManus advised caution in using up any available excess. funds
Board member Josie Barnhart suggested staff provide a cost-benefit analysis for hiring consultants and board members bring forward some firms they would be interested in exploring. No motion was put forth, however. The action that passed was to start the process of looking for a consulting firm.
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