The Quiet Coup: How Power Protects Itself in Johnston County Schools
From budget collapse to academic sabotage, the system that failed our students is gearing up for a comeback—unless we stop it.
The Fire Before Bracy
I touched on this briefly in yesterday’s article, but it deserves a full reckoning. Between 2018 and 2020, Johnston County Public Schools wasn’t just mismanaged—it was falling apart. Superintendent turnover. Financial collapse. Political theater disguised as governance. Race and retaliation buried under spin. What happened wasn’t some passing disruption. It was a sustained crisis of leadership that gutted public trust and sent the entire system into chaos.
It started with Superintendent Ross Renfrow, who “retired” in August 2019 after a 45-minute closed-door meeting. The day before school started, he took a $75,000 severance package and bailed. This followed his abrupt reassignment of Clayton High School principal Dr. Bennett Jones, despite no evidence of wrongdoing. Renfrow admitted as much to Jones directly. There was no proof, just politics.
When interim Superintendent Jim Causby stepped in, he looked at the budget and found a hidden $8.8 million hole. He warned that hundreds of jobs were at risk. In December 2019, he met with county commissioners begging for help, warning of mass layoffs. But this wasn’t just financial, it was deeply political. Causby’s January 2020 resignation letter blasted board members for creating roadblocks and interfering in district operations. He pointedly omitted Ronald Johnson and Teresa Grant from his thank-yous, a clear sign of who was undermining him. He said he would not turn a blind eye to dysfunction. So he left. In hindsight, I don’t think we can really blame him.
Ben Williams stepped up as interim. He didn’t want a raise. His job wasn’t to fix it all. It was to keep the building from collapsing.
The Clayton High scandal had ignited public fury. Jones, a beloved principal with deep community ties, was reassigned in the middle of an unfounded investigation into alleged grade-fixing. The community exploded. Board meetings were packed. Signs covered the streets. A petition for his reinstatement gathered thousands of signatures. The people knew it wasn’t about ethics, it was about control. Jones filed a grievance, exposing retaliation, harassment and thankfully it worked. Interim Superintendent Causby reinstated him on October 7, 2019. But by then, the damage was done.
Meanwhile, the school board became a public spectacle. On New Year’s Day 2020, Ronald Johnson went public with a wild list of accusations: sexual harassment cover-ups, misused funds, board corruption. He targeted board member Tracie Zukowski, claiming she solicited sales for a company she worked for. But the emails he leaked were automated, and she had already recused herself. Ronald Johnson, a man who would eventually land in prison built his entire political persona on lies, manufactured drama, and self-righteous posturing. He accused colleagues of cover-ups, leaked partial truths to the media, and fueled mistrust wherever possible. In reality, he obstructed investigations, harassed staff, and later turned out to be exactly the kind of predator he once pretended to oppose.
Johnson also claimed there was surveillance video of a male employee following a female staffer to her car and that leadership ignored it. Chairman Todd Sutton held a press conference denying a cover-up, but acknowledged hearing a “concerning” audio recording. When pressed about the video, Sutton abruptly ended the conference and walked out. It wasn’t a good look, but it was a better move than giving oxygen to Johnson’s chaos. Sutton, for all the pressure, usually tried to do the right thing.
What was really happening behind the scenes? Ronald Johnson and Teresa Grant were making the board ungovernable. They weren’t solving anything. They were setting fires and blaming others for the smoke. Causby’s resignation was the final alarm.
The dysfunction was so severe that the Johnston County Commissioners stepped in. On January 12, 2020, Sutton, Johnson, and Wooten met with County Manager Rick Hester and Commission Chair Ted Godwin. The county agreed to plug the budget gap with $7.9 million, but not without strings. They demanded oversight, financial controls, and by 2021 political conformity. That’s when they started tying funding to school board policy, demanding bans on “divisive concepts.” Commissioner Tony Braswell even called it out for what it was: overreach. But it only happened because then Commissioner Fred Smith knew he could exert control over the school board due to how dysfunctional it had been in previous years.
Meanwhile, the district was deep in an equity crisis. Of the top 84 district administrators in 2019, only four were Black. Only three Black principals had ever led a traditional high school in Johnston County. When Reginald Holley from the Johnston County Education Summit tried to present this data, he was cut off mid-speech. They cited personnel rules. The truth? They didn’t want to hear it.
Dr. Jones’s case proved how arbitrary and dangerous leadership had become. If this could happen to someone like him, what chance did Black leaders have? The Education Summit’s report was buried. The NAACP called for answers. The board never responded.
That’s the fire Bracy walked into. A burned-out shell of a school system. He arrived in July 2020, amid a pandemic, yes, but that was nothing compared to the institutional collapse. Trust was gone. Stability was gone. Transparency was a punchline. The people who caused it were still lurking in the shadows.
While this level of dysfunction did not originate, nor has it fully ended under Dr. Bracy’s leadership, he inherited it, and he never once let it pull him into the mud. Even when he was directly and publicly challenged by board members like Michelle Antoine and Ronald Johnson, who often used meetings to launch personal attacks or push political agendas, Dr. Bracy remained focused, composed, and professional. He answered misinformation with facts. He stayed rooted in the work. Where others chased headlines or stoked outrage, he showed restraint and dignity, reminding everyone, through action, not performance, what real leadership looks like. His refusal to take the bait didn’t always make him popular on Facebook but it modeled exactly the kind of temperament our schools needed. What it did was earn him trust, especially from those who were tired of seeing our children’s futures used as pawns in someone else’s power play.
Which brings us here: the stakes of this transition. Because we’ve seen what happens when insiders are protected, when bad actors get promoted, when silence gets rewarded. The last time we let power play its games, it damn near took the whole district down with it.
It’s happening again right now and most people don’t even know it. Quietly. Strategically. Familiar faces floating to the top, not because they earned it but because they waited it out. Failed principals rebranded as saviors. Political alliances whispering in the background.
We can’t let that happen. We can’t reward the very mediocrity and manipulation that Bracy was brought to end. Johnston County deserves better. It deserves a national search.
THE STAKES OF THIS TRANSITION
We’ve been here before. When the wrong people were trusted and the right questions weren’t asked. Johnston County Public Schools paid the price for that silence in budget shortfalls, broken trust, botched investigations, and buried scandals. That’s not hyperbole. That’s our damn history.
Dr. Bracy’s leadership didn’t just steer the district out of a tailspin, it reminded us what competent, principled governance could look like in this county. For the first time in years, the community could focus on learning outcomes instead of leadership meltdowns. That wasn’t an accident. It was the result of hiring someone from outside the local political machine, someone who owed nothing to the backroom power brokers and patronage peddlers who wrecked the district in the first place.
And now, with Bracy’s resignation, that very same machine is trying to crank back up. Quietly. Efficiently. Without a fuss.
If you blink, they’ll hand the keys right back to the same clique that failed us, people promoted not for excellence, but for loyalty. Principals with devastating school performance records. Administrators who coasted upward after failing downward. Folks who learned to play the game and protect their own.
They’ll tell you this is “continuity.” That it’s too late for a national search. That it’s easier and smoother and safer to hire someone who already knows the district. But they won’t say what that really means: that we’re expected to accept mediocrity wrapped in familiarity. That we’re supposed to trust insiders again after everything those insiders covered up, papered over, and passed down the line.
No. Hell no.
If you care about public schools in Johnston County, if you care about students, staff, or even the damn budget, since it is your tax dollars, you should be demanding one thing right now: a transparent, nationwide search! Anything less is a betrayal. Anything less is the system choosing itself again, at our expense.
We cannot allow the gains under Dr. Bracy to be undone by quiet deals and soft landings for underperformers. The next superintendent should be someone who earns the job not someone who just waits for the smoke to clear. If an internal candidate wants the job, let them show us the receipts. Growth data. Leadership outcomes. Real performance, not resumes padded with promotions handed out by friends and former bosses.
Because here’s the truth Johnston County knows all too well: power doesn’t disappear. It rearranges itself when we’re not looking.
Right now, it’s already starting to move.
I think it’s time we call that out.
There are already people picking sides, already factions whispering names and greasing wheels. If you wait to see how it plays out, you’ll be watching the same bad movie with a new poster. The time to speak up is right now. The board needs to hear from every parent, every teacher, every student, and every taxpayer who gives a damn. We can’t afford to let complacency crown a successor.
Personally, I’m not on the side of any candidate. I’m on the side of what’s best for public education. That side demands someone with fresh perspective, proven leadership, and zero ties to the dysfunction we’ve fought to escape under the leadership of Dr. Bracy.
Here’s why someone external is objectively more likely to succeed:
1. No Local Baggage
An outside hire hasn’t played footsie with the local “good ol’ boy” network. They don’t owe political favors. They’re not tangled in petty alliances with school board members, county commissioners, or the central office clique. That means they can make real decisions in the best interest of students, not just people in the county with old ideas and deep pockets.
2. Proven Track Record > Familiar Face
You want someone who’s already turned around underperforming schools, managed large-scale budgets, built public trust, and improved outcomes across racial and economic lines. If they’ve done it elsewhere, odds are higher they’ll bring fresh eyes and strong systems to Johnston County. You don’t get different results by recycling the same internal players who were there when problems festered.
3. Systems Thinking, Not System Loyalty
An insider often maintains the status quo. They know how things work, which sounds good, until you realize that includes how to hide dysfunction, spin data, and protect allies. A strong external hire can evaluate JCPS with an unfiltered lens, disrupt broken habits, and push change where insiders might hesitate.
4. Staff Morale Gets a Shot in the Arm
When educators see a respected, nationally accomplished outsider coming in, it sends a message: We’re taking this job seriously. That builds hope and energy. Promoting someone internally who already carries a record of mediocrity can tank morale faster than a budget cut.
The Bottom Line:
Familiarity breeds comfort, but not always competence. Johnston County doesn’t need comfort. It needs courage. Dr. Bracy raised the bar. We don’t need a placeholder to hold the door open for old problems. We need a leader who slams it shut and builds a better one.
Do a nationwide search. Find the best. Not just the next in line.
Because one of the frontrunners for superintendent is not just an insider, they are a product of this broken system. They failed upward, and they’re counting on your silence to fail even further.
What Failing Upward Looks Like: The Case of David Pearce
In 2013–2014, Pearce led Four Oaks Elementary when it had a performance grade of 54—a solid D. By the time he left, it had climbed to a 58. A C. Mediocre at best. That didn’t stop Johnston County from naming him Principal of the Year in 2013. A man running a D-level school got district-wide accolades. Why? Not because of outcomes. Because he knew the right people in the central office.
Then he was promoted. Not for excellence. Not for transformation. Just moved. Handed the keys to South Johnston High School.
That’s where the real damage began.
Let’s deal with the facts of what happened. Not personalities. Just results. Because if this decision is going to shape the future of Johnston County Public Schools, we damn well better start with the truth.
Dr. David Pearce took over as principal at South Johnston High School in 2015. What followed wasn’t growth. It wasn’t stability. It was an academic collapse year after year.
In 2016–2017, the school under Pearce’s leadership posted a catastrophic EVAAS growth index of -8.23. That alone should’ve raised red flags. But next year?
Worse.
-15.38 — dead last in the entire state of North Carolina.
And the year after that?
Even worse again.
-17.55 — the lowest EVAAS score in the state for the second year in a row.
Let that sink in. Out of 2,536 public schools in North Carolina, South Johnston High ranked last in academic growth, not once, but twice, while Pearce was in charge. No other principal in the state posted back-to-back results that bad.
EOC Math GLP dropped from 72.4% (2014–15) to a shocking 14.3% by 2018–19. College and Career Ready scores across subjects fell below 20%. South Johnston never met growth a single time under Pearce’s watch. While nearby schools like West and North Johnston were meeting or exceeding growth, South kept sinking. If not for his removal, Pearce would’ve had the worst EVAAS growth score in the state three years in a row.
Instead of being held accountable, he was promoted. In September 2019, Dr. Pearce was tapped by Johnston County Schools to become an Area Assistant Superintendent. That’s what passes for upward mobility here, fail big, then land a central office gig.
In September 2019, just months after bottoming out South Johnston, Pearce was tapped by then-interim Superintendent Jim Causby to become an Area Assistant Superintendent. Then, in 2020, he graduated from the NCSSA Aspiring Superintendents Program. That program requires a nomination from senior district leadership. Meaning: someone looked at the absolute worst performance data in the state and said, “That’s our guy.”
That’s not merit. That’s protection. That’s how the Johnston County good ole local boy machine works.
Meanwhile, other high schools in the district such as North and West Johnston faired much better. They had similar demographics. The same district leadership. The same challenges. The only variable was the principal.
Let’s be blunt: Pearce didn’t lift students up. He pulled them down.
Instead of being held accountable, he was elevated.
Why? Because Ross Renfrow, then Superintendent, was known for protecting his people. Pearce was a Johnston County graduate, a known entity, part of the “right circles.” So instead of being benched, he was bumped up. Because around here, if you’re part of the handshake circuit, you don’t need results. You just need the right connections.
This is how mediocrity survives. This is how it stays in power.
Unfortunately, it gets darker. There’s a credible rumor. Yes it is hearsay, and I’ll say that clearly that Pearce worked quietly to help re-elect disgraced former board member Ronald Johnson in 2024. The same Johnson who was later removed and is now sitting in Craggy Correctional on felony charges. The plan, as I’ve heard it from multiple sources, was this:
Ronald Johnson as Board Chair.
Michelle Antoine as Vice Chair.
David Pearce waiting in the wings as their hand-picked replacement for Dr. Bracy.
A quiet coup. Fueled by CAAG. Get their slate of horrible, unqualified candidates elected and Pearce lands a high paying job as the superintendent and those who have been pissed off since Bracy was appointed would have someone they could control.
Now, with House Bill 116 set to make our school board elections partisan, the timing isn’t a coincidence. The power grab is back in motion.
Let’s call this what it is:
A manufactured path to power built on relationships, not results.
A whisper campaign to undermine a nationally respected superintendent, Dr. Eric Bracy , the first Black man to lead our schools, while elevating a local insider with the worst growth scores in the state.
Dr. Bracy delivered. He inherited chaos and left us with progress.
Pearce inherited opportunity and left South Johnston in ruins.
We’re not going back. Not to cronyism. Not to backroom deals. Not to the lie that proximity equals competence.
David Pearce has every right to apply. But we have every obligation to reject him, not out of spite, but out of respect for the students, educators, and taxpayers who expect better than recycled failure dressed up as experience.
This is 2025. Johnston County deserves a national search. Not a coronation.
Not a political payout. Not another chapter in the same tired book.
We need a leader who’s earned it.
Not one who’s failed upward.
Let’s be absolutely clear: this next hire will define the future of Johnston County’s schools for the next decade or more. After surviving financial collapse, administrative chaos, political infighting, and a total breakdown of trust, we cannot allow those who helped fuel that dysfunction to now take the reins. We cannot hand this district over to someone who failed upward, who allegedly worked behind the scenes to sabotage their superior, and who never delivered results when they had the chance.
We need a national, transparent superintendent search. One that prioritizes experience, equity, and proven leadership—not political loyalty, inside connections, or proximity to power.
If you are a parent, a teacher, a taxpayer, or simply someone who gives a damn about our public schools, now is the time to speak up. Demand that the Johnston County Board of Education reject backroom deals and launch a national search.
Contact each member directly. Let them know: We will not accept anything less.
📞 JOHNSTON COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD CONTACT INFO
Lyn Andrews, Chair
📧 lynandrews@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7372
Terry Tippett, Vice-Chair
📧 terrytippett@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7308
Michelle Antoine
📧 michelleantoine@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7301
Kay Carroll
📧 kaycarroll@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7373
Kevin Donovan
📧 kevindonovan@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7388
April Lee
📧 aprillee@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7376
Jeff Sullivan
📧 jeffreysullivan@johnston.k12.nc.us
📞 919-934-6032 x7374