Replacing Dr. Foust
Dr. Charles Foust has been the Superintendent of the New Hanover County school system since the fall of 2020. Prior to his arrival here, Dr. Foust served for 2 years as the Superintendent of the Kansas City, KS school district. According to Kansas City news sources, those two years were quite tumultuous. Foust quickly alienated school board members, proven school administrators, and teachers. His 2+ years here have been just as tumultuous. Besides alienating members of our school board and other school administrators, he has also lost the support of local teachers. Over 1,000 local teachers called for his firing back in April of this year (2023).
Here are some of the main points I want to make in regard to replacing Dr. Foust with a new Superintendent:
How Dr. Foust has Failed Us
Besides alienating the teachers and staff that ultimately report to him, Dr. Foust has mismanaged the school district and violated the rights of parents and students alike. Furthermore, he has mismanaged the fiscal resources of the school district by spending our tax dollars on frivolous and objectionable pet projects and leaving needed investments in our school district unfunded. I could probably write 100 reasons how Dr. Foust has failed us, but here are my Top 5:
- Continues to support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives within the school district that are extremely divisive. Without school board approval, Foust hired Kansas CIty firm Sophic Solutions for a sum of over $30,000 to conduct a DEI audit, aka DEI Scorecard. Also, without school board approval, he dissolved the Assistant Superintendent position, created a new position of Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and then filled it with former Assistant Superintendent Malcolm Johnson.
- Has abandoned the liberal arts curriculum within the school district and has continued to take large private sector special interest grants to transform our high schools into workforce vocational training centers instead of schools. A fact that is seems to be proud of, and not hiding.
- Has consistently violated parent and student rights by supporting student questioning by law enforcement without parental notification or permission. Also has maintained barbaric seclusion rooms with little to no adjustments to policy that would limit their use to extremely rare and necessary circumstances. Finally, he has violated parental rights by purposely filling our school libraries with age-inappropriate and often obscene material.
- Unilaterally, and with no input from the school board, decided to open a Newcomers School with $31 million dollars of grant money he was able to secure. This school has the sole purpose of serving the children of recent immigrants (both legal and illegal) in a segregated environment. Meanwhile, Dr. Foust has secured no funding to make the necessary renovations to New Hanover High School to make it an equal to our other high schools. Finally, with no school board input or approval, Dr. Foust unilaterally decided to close the Career Readiness School at Mosley at the end of the 2023/24 school year, citing insufficient funds for its continued operation. Parents received a letter notifying them that their children who were already attending Mosely would not be able to finish and graduate from Mosely and would have to be transferred to a new high school. After listening to five utterly disheartened Mosely special needs students address the school board at their 12/5/2023 meeting, it is unbelievable that Dr. Foust displayed little sympathy for their plight. He seemed uninterested in attempting to find the mere $350,000 a year it would take to keep the school open long enough for all current Mosely students to graduate.
- At the November 21, 2023 meeting of the Policy Committee, Dr. Foust displayed his utter disdain and disrespect for the Constitution of the United States. He ignorantly cited that it was not “written for him” because he is black. He ignorantly forgot that our Constitution is a living document that includes all the amendments that have been made to it. He ignorantly forgot all the members of our military, both black and white, who have given up their lives in defense of our Constitution. The disrespect and unpatriotic vitriol he displayed that evening was the poorest civic lesson imaginable our students who are under his care. By itself, this is proof positive that Dr. Foust has failed us and needs to be replaced.
Why New Leadership is Needed
The school board serves a very important function by setting the goals, agenda, and overall policy of the school district. However, the Superintendent and his office do the vast majority of the work in managing New Hanover Schools. The Superintendent reports directly to the school board, but all other school district employees report ultimately to the Superintendent. The Superintendent also has the fiscal authority to unilaterally make any purchases or sign any contracts they wish, so long as they are under $300,000. School board approval is not required.
For those reasons (and many more) we need new leadership in the Superintendent’s position. We need a Superintendent who shares the same educational philosophy as the school board does. Our current school board consists of 4 mostly solid Republican and conservative voices to only 3 liberal voices. However, even though they know Dr. Foust wants to manage the school district in a manner that is diametrically opposed to a conservative philosophy of public education, they have still decided to retain Dr. Foust as Superintendent. This decision is unfathomable.
After the current School board was elected in the Republican sweep of 2022, many Republicans suggested we should not take Melissa Mason’s advice to fire Dr. Foust immediately. They were concerned that Dr. Foust would sue for wrong termination of his contract, and that it would be fiscally irresponsible to have to pay out a settlement to Dr. Foust. I didn’t agree with this analysis, but at least it was an understandable concern. However, in November of this year (2023) the school board voted to actually extend Dr. Foust’s contract as Superintendent. This is utterly unfathomable!
Apparently, some Republican school board members thought they could control Dr. Foust by making tough policy and/or issuing him orders. That is a foolish notion. There are only so many orders a school board can make, and tough policies can be skirted around by a Superintendent who does not share the values of the school board. As mentioned, Dr. Foust holds the vast majority of power within the school district, and he will use it to pursue his own agenda and will be successfully able to get around will of the school board.
Why a Candidate Search Must Begin Now
Some Republicans are concerned that there is a real shortage of conservative and qualified Superintendent candidates who could replace Dr. Foust. While this may be true, I believe that this should not stop the school board from starting a candidate search. Of course, our school district doesn’t want to be left without a Superintendent, but if Dr. Foust quits as a result of the school board starting a replacement search, then that at least would be a fiscally conservative result.
However, I am not nearly as pessimistic in the school board’s prospects in finding a suitable replacement for Dr. Foust. I just think we need to think we need to think outside the box. We don’t necessarily need to find a candidate with 10 years of experience in being a Superintendent. Perhaps a man or woman who has a good head on their shoulders, some experience in school administration, and a willingness to hire Assistant Superintendents who will help fill the gaps of their inexperience, would be a great choice. If worse came to worst, I believe we already have the next great Superintendent. If need be, Pete Wildeboar could resign from the school board, and he would be a qualified and awesome Superintendent!
Got Questions?
If you have a question about Dr. Foust or our need to replace him, then please feel free to Contact Us. I will always make time to listen to voters!
