*This article has been updated to add comments from Board Member Stephanie Kraybill. WHQR requested further comment from all board members.
At last night’s New Hanover County Board of Education meeting, members voted four to one to further amend policies 7300 and 3200, which outline staff responsibilities and selection of instructional materials, respectively.
The motion, introduced by board member Pat Bradford, will effectively eliminate student art, family photos, and foreign nations’ flags from being allowed in classrooms and on school grounds. Member Melissa Mason seconded the motion.
The only items permitted under the updated policy are signs, displays, and flags representing the United States, the State of North Carolina, New Hanover County, the school name and mascot, post-secondary institutions, school-sponsored events, sponsorships, and/or the approved curriculum — although the last in that list remains somewhat ambiguous.
This move comes shortly after the board passed an “emergency” policy on May 7, dramatically limiting displays in classrooms and on school grounds. Legal experts at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a non-profit that advocates, and in some cases, litigates to protect free speech, told WHQR the policy risked running afoul of the First Amendment. The ACLU also took note of the policy, but didn’t officially weigh in.
As reported by Port City Daily, at a later policy committee meeting on May 21, the language was softened to allow student art, family photos, and some other displays. Last night’s motion by Bradford rejected that less strict language.
Board member Stephanie Kraybill was the only one who dissented on the policy vote. Members Stephanie Walker and Hugh McManus were absent from the meeting (McManus had planned to be away; Walker had a personal emergency).
Before the vote, Kraybill said the district cited policies 3200 and 7300 as reasons for suddenly taking down an NHCS Pride Month post on Monday.
“Maybe that’s the emergency we didn’t define,” she said, referring to Bradford’s motion at the last board meeting to pass the policies as “emergencies.” At the time, Bradford suggested pro-Palestinian protestors at UNC-Chapel Hill, who removed the American flag on campus, as the impetus for the policies.
Kraybill added that the board never defined what “display” meant, leaving it unclear whether social media would be covered under the policies.
“We don’t need [these policies] at all. I am so opposed to this,” she said.
Kraybill tried to ask whether the district’s international schools would be authorized to fly different nations’ flags, but Chair Pete Wildeboer ended the discussion, saying the board had run out of its allotted time for that issue.
The new policy leaves a host of logistical issues unclear, and WHQR has contacted the board for clarification.
Questions included:
- Can art teachers show their students’ work?
- Why were there changes to the policies again after the policy committee meeting on May 21, which allowed a wider range of displays?
- Can world history or Spanish teachers, for example, display other nations’ flags—would that count under the category of ‘approved curriculum’?
Kraybill wrote to WHQR about the new policies, “It is quite disconcerting to be part of a governing body that has such disrespect for its professional staff, its student body, and each other. I worry that teachers will feel so censored that they will leave the district for surrounding counties, that more families will line up for scholarship vouchers to attend private schools, thus perpetuating the financial deficit we are facing, and that new businesses will decide not to set up shop in New Hanover County because its school system is not a welcoming place for their employees’ children.”
Legal representation, Battle of the Books
The board also voted 3-2 to adopt a new law firm, Crossley, McIntosh, Collier, Hanley & Edes, PLLC, to represent the district. Bradford and Mason dissented. There was another 3-2 vote to continue the Sink Law Firm’s contract for exceptional children’s (EC) services until December.
The board did not extend the Vogel Law Firm’s contract. Bradford said the board had already voted 4-3 last month to keep Vogel on. Kraybill responded that the board only agreed to keep the firm until June 30.
Jonathan Vogel interjected, agreeing with Bradford, saying the board had already decided to keep his firm’s representation. Kraybill said he wasn’t a board member and couldn’t make decisions for them.
Additionally, seven district students spoke during the public comment section about keeping the Battle of Books (BOB) competition.
They endorsed the program, saying it introduced them to different perspectives and fostered empathy. Other adult community members attested that this opportunity is opt-in and that parents have discretion over which books the students read as part of the program. No community members signed up to speak about dismantling the program or barring district students from participating.
NHCS students have participated in the program for over 15 years. But at recent meetings and in an opinion piece published by the right-leaning Carolina Journal, board member Josie Barnhart criticized the Battle of the Books and the North Carolina School Library Media Association, an independent nonprofit that organizes the program in the state, for promoting ‘student activism.’ Barnhart suggested that the district create its own local competition.
The board did not vote on the matter, and it’s unclear whether it will be brought back on the agenda at a later date.