After voting to terminate Superintendent Charles Foust's contract earlier this month, the New Hanover County Board of Education appointed Christopher Barnes as acting superintendent.
In a statement from the district, Barnes said he is committed to ensuring a smooth transition while the district searches for a new superintendent.
“My priority is to provide stability and continuity for our students, staff, and community while we work together to move forward,” said Barnes, who has been serving as the district's assistant superintendent of human resources.
The StarNews reached out to Barnes to get more information about his background and experience, and he replied in an email that he did not want to speak to his personal achievements at this time because his job is to focus on the stakeholders of the school system, which are the students, parents, teachers and staff.
Barnes' Weebly.com website biography, however, does offer some insight into his previous experience and approach to education.
The site notes that Barnes served as an assistant principal at several North Carolina schools, including Western Guilford High School, Sparta School and Alleghany High School.
Barnes received his undergraduate degree in English from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont and got a full two-year scholarship from the U.S. Air Force. He was also awarded a North Carolina Principal Fellowship and studied in graduate school at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Barnes finished his doctoral work at Western Carolina University in 2016.
He also served in lead human resources roles in Columbus County for Whiteville City Schools, Union County and Metro Nashville Public Schools before coming to New Hanover County.
Barnes states on his website that he believes in holistic education, meaning that education is not solely about academics, but that a good administrator has the obligation to ensure that his or her school works to better the lives of students.
“In my mind, betterment involves choices,” Barnes wrote. “To enable students to have choices they need to be able to interact with people successfully, think critically about the global landscape and be able to assess and make calculated decisions.”
To do this, Barnes said he believes educators need to allow their students to interact with the knowledge they provide and make choices about it, which gives students the opportunity to practice critical thinking and analysis skills.
Barnes also worked for 11 years at a year-round educational facility for at-risk and delinquent teenagers called Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc. The program takes young men and women who are ages 10-17, and, according to Barnes, has them interact, work and learn in small group settings that simulate small classrooms or families.
The students stay at the wilderness camp for a year and learn to control their anger and make responsible choices. The students also take backpacking or canoeing trips.
Barnes was a counselor, supervisor, program director and facility director throughout his 11 years with Eckerd.
Data driven instruction is also one of Barnes’ focuses as he believes data can help an administrator zero in on barriers to student learning and give them the proof they need to enact change in the lives of students.
According to Barnes' website, having good quality data also helps teachers understand their strengths and weaknesses and can help teachers learn to vary instruction to benefit all students.
Data, Barnes said, also helps parents know that decisions made at the school are individualized for their student and made intentionally.
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