The Cumberland County Board of Education approved applications for five schools to operate under North Carolina’s Restart Model—a reform option that grants charter school-like flexibility in staffing, budgeting, and scheduling—as district leaders aim to address chronic absenteeism rates and boost student achievement.
If approved by the N.C. State Board of Education, the schools would begin operating under the model in the 2026–27 school year.
The Restart Model is one of four reform options authorized under North Carolina law. It allows continually low-performing schools to remain under district control while operating with expanded autonomy similar to charter schools.
The model has been in place statewide since 2017 and is widely used in large districts. More than 170 Restart schools currently operate statewide, with Wake County reporting the highest number, followed by Guilford County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Until now, Cumberland and Onslow counties were among large districts without Restart schools. Jane Fields, associate superintendent of school support, told Cumberland County school board members at a January 9 meeting that the district reviewed data and implementation strategies from other systems when developing its applications.
District leaders said they are starting with five schools:
- Ferguson-Easley Elementary School
- Walker-Spivey Elementary School
- Douglas Byrd Middle School
- Luther Nick Jeralds Middle School
- Douglas Byrd High School
Why These 5 Schools Were Selected
To qualify for Restart status, schools must be designated continually low-performing—meaning they were labeled low-performing for at least two of the past three years.
Cumberland County has 12 schools designated as continually low-performing, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. District leaders submitted Restart applications for five schools this cycle.
State performance data included in the district’s applications shows persistent low ratings across the selected schools.
Walker-Spivey Elementary and Luther Nick Jeralds Middle each received overall grades of D for the 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25 school years. Ferguson-Easley Elementary improved from an F in 2022–23 to D ratings in the following two years.
Douglas Byrd Middle received D grades for two years before dropping to an F in 2024–25. Douglas Byrd High received D grades for two years before improving to a C in the most recent reporting year.
District leaders also cited attendance challenges and staffing instability at the five schools. The schools, based on 2024-25 data, have chronic absenteeism rates far higher than the districtwide rate of 33.76%. Chronic absenteeism means a student has missed at least 10% of the school year.
- Ferguson-Easley Elementary: about 39%
- Walker-Spivey Elementary: about 42%
- Douglas Byrd Middle: about 53%
- Luther Nick Jeralds Middle: about 58%
- Douglas Byrd High: about 64%
Fields told board members that district leaders reviewed multiple data points—including attendance, performance trends, and staffing conditions—before selecting the initial group of schools. At one campus, she said, there were as many as 17 classified and certified vacancies at one point.
District officials said they intentionally limited the first cohort to five schools to allow closer monitoring and support.
What Restart Allows Schools to Do
Restart schools receive expanded flexibility in staffing, budgeting, scheduling, and instructional planning.
Schools may adjust staffing models, offer performance-based incentives, hire professionals who do not hold traditional teaching licenses, or modify instructional calendars while still administering required state assessments.
Fields said the staffing flexibility allows schools to tailor hiring and support roles to specific student and campus needs. Each school submitted improvement targets tied to academic performance, student growth, and attendance.
Across all five schools, district leaders aim to reduce chronic absenteeism by at least five percentage points by 2027 through expanded student engagement strategies and family partnerships.
Elementary and middle schools set subject-area proficiency goals, while Douglas Byrd High aims to increase course performance, career readiness and graduation outcomes.
The local district would monitor and support the Restart schools for five years. Schools that do not demonstrate progress may be removed from the model or required to reapply.
Additional Funding Flexibility
Jay Toland, associate superintendent of business operations, told board members the Restart model would allow substantially more flexible funding at the school level than the district could otherwise provide.
According to Toland, estimated additional flexible funding that the district can use at the school level includes:
- More than $200,000 each for Ferguson-Easley and Walker-Spivey.
- About $500,000 for Douglas Byrd Middle.
- About $542,000 for Luther Nick Jeralds Middle.
- About $640,000 for Douglas Byrd High.
“There’s no way the district can give that much money to those individual schools without this method,” Toland said.
How Schools Plan to Spend Restart Funding
Applications submitted to the state show spending plans vary widely by campus. Flexible spending totals range from about $272,600 at Walker-Spivey Elementary to nearly $646,000 at Douglas Byrd High.
At Douglas Byrd High, the $645,970 would allocate $215,000 for tutoring with transportation, $212,380 for additional certified staff positions, $100,000 for an additional counselor or assistant principal, $55,590 for online tutoring, $48,000 for a teacher assistant, and $15,000 for data planning days.
Elementary schools propose smaller targeted investments, while middle and high schools outline larger spending plans focused heavily on staffing and academic intervention. Several secondary schools also include funding for online tutoring or additional classroom support positions.
Similar priorities appear across campuses, with applications emphasizing tutoring, additional certified staff, student support roles, and dedicated time for educators to analyze performance data.
Applications must be submitted to the state education department by February 28. If approved, implementation would begin in the 2026–27 school year.
“If this works,” Fields said, “hopefully we won’t have that many schools left on the continually low-performing list.”
