New Hanover residents voice concerns to school board, district staff

A total of 157 people signed up to attend the meeting. About half of the community members who were selected via a lottery system to attend the roundtable showed up — 29 out of 60. With the sign-ups, the district asked participants to rank the importance of those six strategic goals.

According to a survey of responses, the top goal respondents selected to discuss with the board was equity, diversity, and inclusion (45 responses), followed by student safety and wellness (32 responses).

For the town hall, which was split into two sections, board members rotated around to speak to constituents sitting at tables.

The newest chief communications officer Salvatore Cardella outlined the rules for the evening and explicitly told the community members that they couldn’t discuss the upcoming hearing on the book, Stamped: Antiracism, Racism, and You, but that they could email the board members with any thoughts they had about it — and that they could attend the public hearing on Friday, September 1 at 9 a.m.

Participant questions ranged from how the district is dealing with student misbehavior and bullying to the quality of facilities to teacher retention.

Pastor Gayle Tabor of SALT, a UMC Church, who gave the town hall’s invocation, asked what the district was doing about bullying — and how it plans to protect students who identify as LGBTQIA.

Assistant Superintendent of Student Support Services Julie Varnam said that anyone can file a complaint with the online system, Ethix360. This reporting system can also accommodate those who want to remain anonymous. The district can also receive complaints through the ‘Say Something’ app.

Varnam added that the district does have a specific bullying investigation protocol. After the claims are substantiated at the individual school level, it then gets sent to Glen Locklear, the district’s director of student safety.

He and his team recommend restorative practices, like conversations and counseling around the incident, and can put into place ‘safety contracts’ or ‘stay away’ agreements, and in some extenuating instances, they offer a school assignment change to either party.

If the incident is seriously detrimental, according to Varnam, they will refer students to mental health support services.

Varnam also said that, after the pandemic, the district saw more “fights, peer conflict, and more polarization of feelings and beliefs and [students] really acting on those.”

In dealing with bullying, which is a part of student misbehavior, Varnam said that teachers and staff are getting training on creating ‘trauma-informed’ schools. She mentioned the STOIC strategy (Structure for success, Teach expectations, Observe systematically, Interact positively, and Correct calmly), derived from the Safe & Civil Schools model led by Dr. Randy Sprick, to help with this learning and professional development.

Varnam mentioned this program to participant Dr. Tim Merrick, who asked what is the district doing to decrease the number of school suspensions, saying that the school system needed to be in the business of “prevention” work, not “reactive” work.

She said she agreed with Merrick, and that the district needed more behavioral coaches — and cited the statistic that African American students are six times more likely to be suspended than their peers.

At this meeting, as well as at a board meeting in May, Varnam said that teachers and staff have to be aware of implicit bias and the sometimes subjective nature of discipline.

Merrick said that based on last year’s America’s Schools Mental Health Report Card, the state still isn’t providing enough school counselors, social workers, and psychologists.

“I see that we have done better in the last several years, but we’re still way behind like all of North Carolina is way behind. That’s another story. But still, we’re behind, so what are we doing to catch up?” Merrick asked.

Varnam responded to Merrick.

“Everything is based on the tax base, everything, and it’s all based on the contribution that the state provides. […] We’re not funded enough. We do better than the majority of counties across the state because of local funding, but we’re not where we need to be based on association ratios or with school nursing, but we have a school nurse assigned to every school,” Varnam said.

According to North Carolina’s 2023 Child Health Report Card, compiled by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and the nonprofit NC Child, the state received an “F” in school health, which measured the ratios of school counselors and nurses.

Last year, in New Hanover County Schools, there was one counselor for every 304 students; one social worker for every 510 students; one mental health therapist for 690 students, and one psychologist for every 1,458 students.

The recommended ratios are psychologists (1:500 students), social workers (1:250), and counselors (1:250).

Board Member Josie Barnhart and Varnam said that the district is keeping up with their caseloads; however, both county and school system staff have said there are waitlists for mental health services in some of the schools.

Nonetheless, Barnhart told the participants that she is a part of the legislative committee and would be talking to representatives about the mental health worker ratios.

This conversation led to Merrick asking about the district’s investments in school resource officers (SROs) rather than mental health care workers. 

Participant Linda Higgins agreed with Merrick that more of the district’s money should be supporting the role of counselors and mental health therapists not necessarily SROs. She also mentioned the use of drug-sniffing dogs in school facilities — saying that they would scare students.

Board Member Stephanie Kraybill said the SROs are there to build relationships, not necessarily to police.

Merrick and Higgins also asked questions about the SRO funding. Varnam responded that the elementary SROs are paid through a safety grant — but, overall, most of the 61 SROs in the district schools are mainly paid through local taxpayer funds.

Additionally, through the county’s 2022 ‘Community Building’ funding plan, elementary schools are receiving an additional $1.5 million for SROs.

Participant Randy Chenoweth asked about the work in the school district by Port City United, a county violence-prevention program.

While the ‘violence interrupters’ have been the highest profile part of PCU, Varnam said the program also provides funding for community resource specialists in certain schools, these specialists build relationships and trust with families in the community.

She said that these employees (who are affiliated with either Communities in Schools (CIS), LINC, or Voyage non-profits) get referrals from both district social workers and counselors if students are showing warning signs of antisocial behaviors in the classroom.

Varnam said that they are “wonderful and gracious” to work with the school district because they help prevent community violence from coming into the schools.

Board Member Pat Bradford said that at the last Turnaround Task Force meeting she heard from two principals specifically about the positive work these specialists are doing within the schools.

“If they’re reaching at least one student, that’s everything,” Bradford said.

Parent Christine Tobias said she has two students in the district. One goes to New Hanover High School, the other goes to Hoggard.

She said that there is a stark difference between the school facilities and questioned what the board could do about it.

Board Member Hugh McManus said he agreed that New Hanover needs some major updates and that a school bond should be on the ballot next fall.

Bradford agreed with McManus that the community would need to vote to raise taxes to build new school buildings; however, McManus noted that not many developers in the community are setting aside land to build schools. The only one mentioned were the developers of RiverLights; they donated 10 acres to build a school.

McManus also mentioned that Porters Neck Elementary is overcrowded by about 200 students — and that they had to order new trailers because of it.

Bradford and McManus encouraged those sitting at the table to lobby the county commissioners for more funding to build more schools. They also mentioned applying for upcoming New Hanover Endowment grants to further support the schools.

Bradford shared that she tried to get the city to donate their “new building downtown” for New Hanover High School students. WHQR reached out to Bradford to clarify whether she was referring to the city’s purchase of the Thermo Fisher building and has yet to hear back.

District parent Stephanie Brandt said she knows several educators who are not returning this fall to teach. She asked how the school system is addressing this issue.

Kraybill responded that New Hanover County has one of the highest local supplements in the state and the newly available bonuses for teachers working at Forest Hills Elementary and Rachel Freeman Elementary.

Chief Academic Officer Dr. Patrice Faison said the community should focus on respecting teachers as professionals. She mentioned that they needed to feel valued and to have autonomy in their jobs.