Residents press board on Leandro funding, K–2 suspensions and enforcement of decorum at meeting

A string of public commenters urged the New Hanover County Board of Education to back the Leandro school-funding plan, stop out-of-school suspensions for kindergarten through second grade and consistently enforce decorum rules during public comment. Speakers including retired teachers, pediatricians and parents cited Leandro — the long-running state school-funding litigation — as a vehicle to secure more resources, saying quality education is linked to long-term health and economic outcomes. Lindsey Maitland, a retired pediatrician, told the board the Leandro plan “supports quality public education, which is as fundamental to a…