Superintendent says DPS Foundation 'did not consult with me' on string of hires
Amid hiring recently re-elected School Board members after each of the last two election cycles, the DPS Foundation has hired another prominent DPS figure to work at the privately-run organization.
Durham Public Schools no longer employs a District Social Emotional and Mental Health Coordinator after Christopher Soto recently left the district—to join the DPS Foundation. It is uncertain if Dr. Soto will continue to serve on the Student Health Advisory Council where members bid his farewell from the district at a recent meeting. Ironically, Dr. Soto also served on the Strategic Plan Team for Priority 3: Attract and Retain Outstanding Educators and Staff. A double asterisk next to his name at the team’s update presentation at the January 26 Monthly Meeting was intended to acknowledge his departure. Dr. Soto had been employed by DPS since February 2017.
This move has added relevancy given that DPS staff will present a plan to the School Board on Thursday calling for $280,000 in funding to be sent to the DPS Foundation to support their WHOLE Schools initiative, which plans to implement mental health services across the district. Although no sources could directly confirm Dr. Soto’s new role with the DPS Foundation, he had already been a member of the Advisory Council of the WHOLE Schools initiative.
Bull City Public Investigators asked Superintendent Dr. Pascal Mubenga about this recent departure to the DPS Foundation and if he knew what Dr. Soto’s next role would be. The Superintendent responded, “I believe [Dr. Soto] will be running the WHOLE Schools program, but I do not know. The DPS Foundation did not consult with me when they hired him. They did not consult with me when they hired Matt Sears, and they did not consult with me when they hired Xavier Cason.”
Multiple emails to the DPS Foundation seeking information and consultation received no reply. Inquiries to the DPS Foundation included a desire to know if the position Dr. Soto accepted had been publicly advertised and a request to describe how the hiring of DPS staff and Board members by the DPS Foundation advances the DPS Foundation's stated aim to support the school district. (Should the DPS Foundation respond, this article will be updated.)
Matt Sears resigned from the School Board District 3 seat on January 31, 2023 to join the DPS Foundation. Xavier Cason, a long-time educator in the community and beloved band director at Hillside High for 15 years, had run unopposed for School Board Consolidated B District in 2016 and unopposed again in 2020, but he left his Board seat shortly after re-election to join the DPS Foundation in a position that the DPS Foundation identified in their 2019-2020 Annual Report as being funded by Durham County and DPS, meaning that Mr. Cason would have overseen allocation of the funding that would later become his salary. Mr. Sears departed the School Board days before a $1.28-million proposed gift from DPS to the DPS Foundation was to be announced.
Remarkably, this series of stories remains a Bull City Public Investigators exclusive.
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