Unaffiiated Voters: Five reasons to examine the record

As an Unaffiliated voter you likely distrust the establishment leadership of both the Republican and Democrat parties. Yoo realize that a lot of the party leadership and the candidates from these parties are not looking out for you, your family, or for the community. They are more interested in the accumulation of wealth, power, and influence. You are tired of having to vote for the "lesser of two evils" and would rather elect candidates that will take principled stands on the issues and not just take orders from their party's leadership.

Based on that, this Top 5 list will demonstrate that Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart are definitely not the type of candidate you are looking for. They mmust be voted out so they can no longer wreak havoc on New Hanover County public schools.

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

Supported Superintendent Foust

Dr. Charles Foust Former Superintendent Foust was a disaster for New Hanover County Schools during his tenure. He often went behind the prior School Board's back and didn't provide them with the critical information necessary to make decsions. In addition, his dictatorial management style alienated our teachers and other school staff; so much so that by 2022 over 1000 teachers had signed a petition demanding his removal!

If Pat and Josie really care about employee morale then they would have fired Dr. Foust as soon as they were sworn on to the School Board in December of 2022. Not only did they not do that, but they actually voted for and granted him a 4-year contract extension in August of 2023. As explained below, their loyal allegiance to the whims of State Senator Michael Lee was probably a motivating factor in their decision.

It wasn't until the public revelation (and blowback by the local GOP base) that Dr. Foust had made secret plans to close the Mosely Academy and turn it into a "Newcomers School" and the results of a Climate Survey conducted by UNCW showed that teachers and staff were still completely dissatisified with Dr. Foust, that the Board finally decided to fire Dr. Foust in July of 2024. However, since Dr. Foust already had a signed contract extension, NHCS was forced to pay him over $250,000. Had Dr. Foust not attempted to secretly close the Mosely Academy, he would likely still be our Superintendent.

Supported AI Surveillance in our Schools

In 2025, at the behest of State Senator Michael Lee, 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 and Michael Lee are 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!

Replacing Teachers With Technology

An AI Robot teaching young children You would think that Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart would have learned from the experience that NHCS had when they closed schools during the COVID-19 Crisis and went to remote computer-based learning. The vast majority of students simply do not learn nearly as effectively this way. NHCS students fell well behind in their academic studies and we are still seeing the long-term consequences in reduced acaemic competency scores.

Multiple scientific studies have all proven that children learn better with actual teachers, printed books, and by writing on paper then they do within a digital classroom. And yet Ms. Bradford and Ms. Barnhart still approved the intial pilot of Spark NC labs (Another pet project of Michael Lee) within NHCS and have voted for its expansion. They continue to approve the Technology Department's ever-expanding requests to provide 1:1 laptops for all NHCS students. Meanwhile they have publicly criticized the idea of returning to printed textbooks because it might cost too much.

Technology can and should supplement a good education, and our students do need to learn to use it in pursuit of their career dreams. But, AI and technology will never replace a teacher!

In the Pocket of Michael Lee

Perhaps you like most of what State Senator Michael Lee has done, and perhaps you don't. However, even if you do appreciate his overall work you need to realize that Senator Lee has a disturbing pattern of "cozying" up to the wishes of his campaign donors and for exchanging political favors. In addition, he most definitely proposes and supports statewide legislation that attempts to micromanage how our public schools are operated that detracts from the power of the New Hanover County Board of Education to do what is right for our school district.

ALthough Michael Lee has not donated directly to the campaigns of Ms. Bradford and Ms. Barnhart, it is intersting to note that there is a significant overlap in contributions from mega donors, like the Logans, Rountrees, and Hiatts. These mega donors usually don't make large donations to school board campaigns because they have no financial incentive to do so. Yet Pat and Josie were able to receive signficant contributions from them and perhaps all it took was a call from Michael Lee. It should come as no shock that they voted to give Dr. Foust a contract extension because Michael Lee wanted him to remain as Superintendent because he had recommended Senator Lee for the UNCW Razor Walker Award in Education. It should come as no shock that they led the charge on AI Surveillance in our schools because this was Michael Lee's pet project. It should come as no shock that they continue to vote for the expansion of technology and AI in our classrooms because Michael Lee is a true believer in the idea that technology will revolutionize education.

We need people on the school board who can think for themselves and not simply follow the "marching orders" of influential politicians.

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.

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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