Democrat Voters: Five reasons to examine the record

If you are a registered Democrat then you are probably wary of voting for Republican candidates under any set of circumstances. However, since the local Democrat Party has only endorsed 3 of the 4 Democratic candidates for School Board, you might be tempted to vote for one of the Republican candidates.

If you choose to do this then just be sure that you don't vote for Republican candidates Pat Bradford or Josie Barnhart. They are the absolute worst Republicans running for the New Hanover County Board of Education. Read over this Top 5 list and you'll find out why.

Square crop of Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart as spooky witches beside a boiling green cauldron

Book Bans, the "Display Policy," and the Suppression of Free Speech

Book Bans Local Democratic leaders and anti-censorship advocates in New Hanover County argue that Republican school board members Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart are leading a hypocritical, politically motivated assault on public education and free speech.

Their effort started with book bans. While there has always been a procedure for parents to challenge books at their child's individual school, Pat and Josie led the effort to charge that procedure so any book challenge now has districtwide implications. That's why the books Stamped and Blended now have very limited availability at all of the district's schools. These book bans have nothing to do with age-appropriate reading materials. It is simply the censorship of the ideas contained in those books.

Pat and Josie didn't stop with book bans. By May of 2024, Ms. Bradford and Ms. Barnhart were busy getting the "Display Policy" adopted. This now bans any display of flags or posters on the walls of any school classroom or hallway unless it is a federal, state, local, or military flag, or is an annoucement of school activities. Teachers are no longer able to put up motivational posters, and students can't freely express their political beliefs. It took a July 2024 amendment to the Policy before teachers were allowed to place family photos on their desks and schools were allowed to display student artwork again. The "Display Policy" is a major infringment on the Free Speech of our teachers and our students.

Erasing Black History

Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart signaled a deep disregard for inclusive education by leading the vote to reject an official district proclamation recognizing Black History Month.

Barnhart aggressively opposed the proclamation by dismissing it as an empty statement without tangible administrative direction, subsequently introducing a substitute motion that progressive critics slammed as a tactic to dilute and bypass the official month-long designation. Bradford supported the override and further claimed the resolution felt like a "political maneuver" that implied the district wasn't teaching history correctly—a stance local public school advocates heavily condemned as documented in the report by Port City Daily.

Local NAACP leadership fiercely rebuked the vote, warning that refusing to sign a symbolic vow celebrating the historical contributions of Black students actively alienates minority families and compromises historical accuracy within the district.

Promoting Christian Nationalism

Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart are always falsely accusing NHCS educators of trying to indoctrinate students with a leftist agenda. In fact, the opposite is true. Pat and Josie are the ones trying to indoctrinate NHCS students by promoting the goals of Christian Nationalism within our schools. This dangerous political movement (led by the likes of the Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA, and local groups like NC Tide Turners) want to turn our country into something that resembles the fascist Gilead (from The Handmaids Tale) rather than the land of liberty and religous freedom that our Founders formed.

This became quite apparent in February of 2024 when Pat and Josie led the charge to add "Section Z" to Policy 7205: Standards of Professional Conduct. This lauudry list of 13 of forbidden topics, prohibits teachers from talking to students about racial discrimination, sexism, sexual orientation, and more. The language is almost a direct copy of Republican authored HB 187 (which thankfully failed in the NC Senate) and the Heritage Foundation's legislative templates on the subject. As previosuly mentioned, Pat and Josie are behind book bans, and another goal of the Heritage Foundation is to adopt anti LGBTQIA policies in our schools by banning books. Finally, the efforts of Ms. Bradford and Ms. Barnhart this year to get LifeWise into our elementary schools (at the expense of other religous studies and character building programs) also proves they are following the Christian Nationalist playbook. LifeWise is a spin-off of Turning Point USA and is more akin to the "Hitler Youth" then to any actual religous education program.

We need board members who respect the separation of church and state, and who will concentrate on serving the needs of students from all religous and non-religous backgrounds.

Curtailed Transparency & Public Participation

Shadow Government Good government is transparent and is responsive to the input of the people it serves. That is not only a good principle, but one that is supported the NC Open Meetings law. It is quite apparent from their actions that Ms. Bradford and Ms. Barnhart don't agree.

They both voted to end the live-streaming and recording of many important Board committee meetings. Except for the monthly Regular Board Meeting, they schedule all their other board and committee meetings to take place during the working day, when most of the public are unable to attend. They both have publicly expressed opposition to the idea of allowing a short Call to Audience segment at other board and committee meetings. Finally, they both voted to change our policies regarding Call to Audience so they can shut down speakers they don't care for.

In summary, it is fairly apparent that Pat and Josie would rather have all their meetings in a private, dark, and smoke-filled room.

Supported AI Surveillance in our Schools

In 2025, Pat & Josie led the charge to introduce an intrusive AI Surveillance System into New Hanover County schools. This system had the capability to perform facial recognition and could track our students’ every movement throughout the day. All of this without requiring parental permission.

Thankfully, a bipartisan coalition formed that narrowly defeated the introduction of this Big Brother system 4-3. However, the NC General Assembly is in love with this idea, and it is likely that they will try and push it to NHCS again in the future.

We must remain vigilant and be sure to elect school board members who are committed to the 4th Amendment and to our families’ privacy rights. Ms. Bradford and Ms. Barnhart promised that they would stand up for parents rights. They have not, and they must be voted out!

And don't forget that they are...

Vindictive Witches

Vindictive Witches Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart are constantly brewing up strife and turmoil on the Board of Education in their attempt to constantly punish other board members that simply won't capitulate to them. This was evident during their first two years on the Board by the manner in which they treated Board Member Melissa Mason. During their second two years they have switched to persecuting board members Tim Merrick and David Perry.

Pat and Josie are always advocating for the addition of new and vague restrictions on board member conduct to Policy 2120 : Code of Ethics for School Board Members, so they can use them as pretextual justification for punishing board members they don't like. In addition, they will often selectively utilize Roberts Rules of Order to stop or undermine the proposals of the board memebers they persecute. It doesn't matter whether they agree with the proposal or not. It's all about vindictive payback.

The NHCS Board is wasting far too much time and effort holding censure and disciplinary hearings, so that these two can continue their personal vendettas. We need School Board members who will respectfully listen to all individual board members, even when there is disagreement.

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