New Hanover County Board of Education passes new display policy

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The New Hanover County Board of Education passed a policy, despite pushback from some teachers.

Policy 3200 was passed 4 to 1 by the board. It oversees what teachers can and cannot display in their classrooms.

During the meeting, items such as art, personal photos, and the flags of foreign nations were added to the list of items not allowed to be displayed.

With the new policy, teachers can only display materials relevant to their curriculum, the state of North Carolina, and the United States.

Leslie Posey is a retired New Hanover County teacher.

She feels that this policy will hurt students’ ability to learn.

“The rooms need to be decorated,” Posey said. “That’s just part of learning. Some kids are visual and other kids aren’t, but the visual, we’ve got to adapt to all different kinds of learners. I think they’re going to find school a lot more boring.”

Another topic discussed at the meeting, Battle of the Books.

Several people opposed the Battle of the Books program being allowed to continue in New Hanover County.

Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program for students to come together to test their knowledge of the books they have read.

Board member, Josie Barnhart, spoke out against the program in an article written in the Carolina Journal earlier in May, and again at a board meeting on May 28th saying school is not a place for activism.

Abigail Blair and Lyla Varnum are 6th graders at International School at Gregory who spoke in favor of the program.

They enjoyed taking part in Battle of the Books and didn’t see it as anything other than reading.

“I think its really just reading books, Varnum said. “I mean, it brings in new ideas but its not really… harming anybody,” Blair added.

It is not yet known if a vote on whether to continue Battle of the Books in New Hanover County will happen.

Battle of the Books has taken part in new Hanover County for the past 16 years.