The fallout from Tuesday’s firing of New Hanover County Schools Superintendent Charles Foust is not expected to include the end of a career development program for middle schoolers.
In November, officials with the Wilmington Chamber Foundation announced they’d be able to
expand a career development program to more New Hanover County middle school students using $2.8 million from the state.
The chamber’s Career and Leadership Development Academy (CLDA) began in 2022 with 43 New Hanover seventh-graders, growing to 88 in 2023.The state funding allowed the program to be extended to all seventh-graders (estimated to number 1,800) wanting to participate in the initiative. Foust had been superintendent since 2020.
Without comment, the county school board voted 5-0 (minus two board members) on Tuesday night to terminate Foust's contract,
according to a WECT story.
On Wednesday, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Natalie English said, “The chamber has enjoyed working with Dr. Foust on programming that exposes middle school students to future potential careers. He was consistently supportive of our efforts to develop our future workforce and will be missed. We are certain the work will continue.”
In a sponsored-content column by Foust published on the Business Journal’s website in September 2023, he wrote about working with the business community on career readiness.
“By partnering with local businesses and organizations, we can provide students with academic and real-world experiences and opportunities to explore various career paths,” Foust stated. “When we say we want all students to graduate college and career ready, we mean they can succeed in the workplace, a four-year university, a two-year college, trade school, the military, and other career-training programs without wasting time and money on remedial support.”
Those who participate in the CLDA explore Wilmington’s industries that were categorized as high growth in the New Hanover County’s 2022 Economic Mobility Report. Those industries included hospitality, aircraft manufacturing, fintech, health care, film, logistics and distribution.
One day each month, participating students explore several of Wilmington’s industries that were categorized as high growth in New Hanover County’s 2022 Economic Mobility Report, according to a previous Business Journal story. The highlighted industries included hospitality, aircraft manufacturing, fintech, health care, film, logistics and distribution.
On Wednesday, the New Hanover County Republican Party reacted favorably to Foust’s termination.
“Last night, our Republican-led school board fired Democrat Superintendent Charles Foust and we are thrilled that he will no longer be running our school system. This is a pivotal moment in changing the culture and priorities in how our kids will be educated," wrote county GOP chairman Nevin Carr III.
“As we look across the country we can see the priorities of radical Democrats running school systems. We see flags representing radical gender ideologies replacing the American flag. We see kids being taught to be racist, that your skin color defines you as an oppressor, or oppressed. We see the teaching of history and love of country being replaced with hateful leftist propaganda. And never forget the ridiculous policies that were forced on our kids throughout COVID with the endless masking, social distancing, and forced vaccinations.”
Democrats Hugh McManus and Stephanie Walker also voted in favor of terminating Foust’s contract, according to the WECT story.
The termination came after the board heard the dismal results of a teacher and staff survey.
According to reporting by WHQR, the survey showed 66% of those who responded to the survey "say they don’t feel supported by district leadership," and 78% "think the district's administration doesn’t know what goes on in the classroom."
Jill Hopman, chair of the New Hanover County Democratic Party, said Wednesday that something had to change, agreeing with the termination but taking issue with the GOP statement about Foust.
"I think that the survey results really speak for themselves. The likability score of this GOP-controlled board and front office is abysmal. Instead of focusing on made-up partisan dramas like flags and book bans and gender identity, we should be focused, as the teachers have made very clear, on staff support, safety and our actual students," Hopman said. "I think it’s really sad that it came to this, but I also think that our teachers and our students must come first and something had to be done.
"This is a step that needed to be taken."