I, along with many other grassroots partiots, have been advocating that we replace Dr. Charles Foust as NHCS Superintendent for a almost 4 years. Besides the fact that the goals he pursued within our school district were diametrically opposed to those of our conservative school board, Dr. Foust also violated the rights of parents, students, and the community. He also alienated our teachers and staff with his non-transparent and dictatorial management style. This final fact became readily apparent when the school district released the results of its 2024 Staff Climate Survey. After getting an advanced copy of these results, I spoke to the matter at our 7/2/2024 Board of Education meeting.
Later that evening, our current school board unanimously voted to terminate Dr. Foust’s contract immediately. This is great news! I would like to think that my speech may have influenced any board members who were still “on the fence” about Dr. Foust. But the real thanks has to go out to our teachers and staff, who are the lifeblood of our school system. Our current Board of Education finally heard you “loud and clear” and took strong action.
But What’s Next?
After terminating Dr. Foust, the board named Dr. Chris Barnes, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, as “Acting Superintendent.” This is just a very temporary fix. The next step is to hire an “Interim Superintendent” to manage our school district for the 2024/25 school year. This will give the school board plenty of time to conduct a search for well-qualified permanent Superintendent.
The usual course of action now is for the school board to contact the NC School Board Association, and they would simply assign an Interim Superintendent for us from their list of retired and unemployed Superintendents. I think this would be a TERRIBLE idea! First off, this association has a good deal of liberal bias, and their choice is likely to have a different vision for our school district than our conservative school board does. We need a school board and a Superintendent that share a common vision and can work together.
More importantly though, we need a local Interim Superintendent that can help to transform our school administration into one that really listens to and respects our teachers and staff. That’s why I believe that Board Chair Pete Wildeboer or my former primary opponent, Dr. Kimberly McDuffie Murphy, would be excellent choices.
During my 29-year career as a Software Engineer, I can honestly say that my best managers were the ones that actually designed software themselves before moving into IT Management. Unlike the “pencil pushers with an MBA” managers, the managers with practical experience in the field, listen to and respect the work of the Software Engineers that report to them.
Pete and Kimberly don’t have years of experience at being a Superintendent. What they do have is many years of experience actually teaching and in individual school administration. Because they have been there, they both will be able to transform our school district into one that really listens to and respects our teachers and staff. Both have all the necessary education and credentials to serve as Superintendent. Both are conservatives that will share the goals of our school board and work well with them.
IMHO, this is a “no-brainer” and I urge the current school board to hire one of these fine candidates as “Interim Superintendent” ASAP.
