NHCS Board of Ed. Regular Meeting | October 6, 2026

The New Hanover County Schools Board of Education held its regular meeting on October 6, 2026. The board discussed the 2026 school bond referendum, scheduled for the November 3 ballot, including planned facility and safety improvements and a proposed $20 million for HVAC upgrades. The district reported that mold remediation at several schools had cost more than $700,000 from fund balance; Hogard High School’s remediation alone had been estimated at over $500,000. The superintendent said staff were assessing final costs and hoped to bring proposed pay-structure changes for occupational and physical therapists and exceptional-children teaching assistants back for action, potentially for implementation at winter break. No vote on those proposals is recorded in the transcript. The meeting also included concern from orchestra staff and students about continued funding for orchestra positions, but no funding decision was made.

The board pulled the contracts and purchase-orders item from the consent agenda for questions. Members discussed a $152,000 bus-camera software/license item covering the fleet and an approximately $299,000 Apple iPad order to replace devices no longer receiving updates; the transcript does not show a vote approving the pulled item. Other consent items were approved. The board also discussed a proposed policy change allowing board review of supplementary instructional materials; the transcript ends before a vote is recorded. A bond town hall was announced for October 20.