New Hanover school board member wants to terminate superintendent's contract

A member of the New Hanover County Board of Education has announced that she intends to submit a motion that would effectively fire Superintendent Charles Foust.

"I notified the board today of my intent to make a motion at our next meeting to rescind the motion to approve the three-year extension of employment contract for Superintendent Charles Foust," school board member Pat Bradford said at a meeting Tuesday.

She did not say why she intends to make the motion, but her statement came up during a discussion about the future of the Career Readiness Academy at Mosley. Bradford noted concerns about getting conflicting information about Mosley.

More: Career Readiness Academy at Mosley to remain open for next school year

Board member Stephanie Kraybill expressed frustration about the possible motion.

"We can't just be throwing out contracts with the superintendent and muddying all the waters," Kraybill said.

This discussion came after Foust informed the board Thursday, Jan. 26 that he would no longer be going through with the closure of Mosley and would not be following through with a potential newcomers school.

The North Carolina State law says that the board of education can terminate the superintendent's contract before the contract term has expired as long as no state funds are used for the purpose, no local funds for teachers and students are used, the local board makes public the funds that are to be transferred or used for the purpose, the local board notifies the state board of the funds that are to be transferred or used for the purpose, and no donation funds are used for the purpose.

If the board terminated Foust's contract, it would be required to pay him one year of salary, which is $253,571. The state pays for $149,164 of that amount and local funds cover $96,492. The remaining amount covers cell phone bills and travel expenses.

Bradford said she intended to submit the motion at the school board's next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6.

This isn't the first time Foust's contract termination has been an issue. In 2022, three school board candidates, including Pat Bradford, said they'd explore the possibility of firing the superintendent if elected. Foust also previously faced a petition signed by more than 1,000 people calling for his resignation.

More: School board candidates: Superintendent needs to be held accountable or fired

Meanwhile, the board continued discussing next steps for Mosley.

Board member Stephanie Walker requested to have a more in-depth cost analysis for Mosley. Foust said he has that information ready, but that it contains personnel names and their salaries.

Walker said that since the information can already be found in public record, she would like that discussion to remain as public as much as possible.

Kraybill said she thought the discussion of salaries where faculty can be easily identified in this situation is disrespectful, and board member Hugh McManus agreed.

Under state law, salaries for school employees are public record and cannot be kept secret. The StarNews has filed a public records request with the school district seeking the information for Mosley.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover school superintendent contract could be terminated