New Hanover school board votes to begin contract talks with Dr. Barnes, removes superintendent search from agenda

The New Hanover County Schools Board of Education voted to begin contract negotiations with Dr. Barnes and later removed the superintendent search from the agenda, the board said during its meeting.

Board members amended the agenda early in the meeting to add a closed session to discuss “naming Dr. Barnes as the superintendent,” a change that passed 6 to 0. The board then held a closed session pursuant to the cited general statute before returning to open session.

After the closed session, the board voted 7 to 0 to enter contract negotiations with Dr. Barnes to become superintendent. Board members present and recorded as voting “yes” in the roll call were Melissa Mason; Josie Barnhart; Pat Bradford; Judy Justice; Dr. Tim Merrick; David Perry; and Pete Wildebore.

Later in the meeting the board voted 7 to 0 to remove the superintendent search process from the agenda. The meeting also included scheduling discussion: board members agreed to move a previously scheduled board budget work session from Feb. 27 to Feb. 26 and to target a 2:00 p.m. start time; staff were asked to send an updated calendar invite.

The board used the closed-session authority cited during the meeting as general statute 143-318.11(a)(6), which board members invoked when moving to hold the closed session. The meeting record did not include additional details about the terms of any contract negotiations or a timeline for a finalized contract.

No formal vote on hiring a superintendent was reported in the transcript; the actions recorded were (1) amending the agenda to allow a closed session, (2) holding a closed session under the cited statute, (3) voting to enter contract negotiations with Dr. Barnes, and (4) removing the superintendent search process from the agenda. The transcript did not provide a full name for Dr. Barnes or other contract terms.