When parents caught wind of a scheme to shut down a special education high school in a coastal North Carolina community and convert it into a school for illegal immigrants, they sprang into action. After vocal opposition from the conservative parents and community at large, the school board shut down the plan for good. This demonstrated the importance of electing good, solid conservatives in school board elections, and sent a warning to other communities to be on the lookout for similar plans.
The plan originated with New Hanover County Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust, who announced he would shut down the Career Readiness Academy at Mosley to transform it into a “newcomers school.” A member of the New Hanover County Commission, Dane Scalise, wrote in an op-ed on Jan. 25 that the decision by Foust and his staff “blindsided” the school board. He bemoaned the pressure placed on parents, forcing students and families to transfer to other schools. Scalise said Foust only admitted the plan to convert it to a “newcomers school” after the announcement.
Scalise described a “newcomers school” as “more akin to migrant resettlement and assimilation facilities.” Their mission isn’t to educate students at grade level, but rather to help entire immigrant families “integrate into the local community where they are located.” Scalise warned that these facilities are outside the mission of the county school district and would become magnets to illegal immigrant families from outside the county.
The decision to close Mosley especially concerned Scalise and other board members, he said, as plans may have begun as early as 2021.