The Cumberland County Board of Education agreed in a 5-3 vote Tuesday to transfer the Manchester Elementary School property in Spring Lake and the Alger B. Wilkins High School property in Fayetteville to Cumberland County for $1 each.
But some board members said they worried about what they described as a growing pattern of handing over school properties that are no longer in use. The board also voted 5-3 on June 9 to sell the Lillian Black Elementary School property in Spring Lake to Cumberland County for $1. The campus has been vacant since the school closed in June 2022.
The school board voted in May to permanently close Manchester Elementary as part of a districtwide consolidation plan.
The board also declared the Alger B. Wilkins property surplus as part of the district’s broader consolidation plan. Students are already scheduled to relocate to another campus beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
Board member Mary Hales said she was concerned the district was moving too quickly to transfer school properties to the county and questioned whether board members were giving up too much control over the district’s assets.
“It just seems like we’re adhering to demands of some sort from the county commissioners, and we’re just going along with whatever they want from us, and I’m opposed to that,” said Hales, who voted no on Tuesday.
Under North Carolina law, school boards must first offer unused school properties to county commissioners before pursuing other sale options. State law allows both boards to negotiate the final transfer price.
Some Cumberland County school board members argued the district should focus on generating revenue from properties that are no longer needed for school operations.
“We’re in the education business. We’re not in the real estate business,” board member Jackie Warner said. “I believe that the real estate business should be handled by the county commission and not by the board of education.”
Warner also pointed to what she described as growing cooperation between county commissioners and the school board. The county fully funded the district’s budget request last year.
Board member Greg West echoed similar support for the transfers, arguing the county originally funded construction of both school properties decades ago.
“The county paid for the land and the building the first time,” West said. “We are just transferring it back—we have been stewards of it for the past 50 to 70 years.”
During discussion surrounding the Manchester Elementary transfer, board member Deanna Jones asked if Cumberland County Schools would get money if county commissioners sell the property to a private buyer.
The answer is no, Chief Financial Officer Jay Toland said. But, he added, the district could benefit through additional tax revenue collected by the county that helps fund local education.
“There will not be a direct transfer of money to us, but indirectly because their revenue comes from the taxes that they collect,” Toland said.
What Happens to Alger B. Wilkins Students Now?
Questions surrounding the Alger B. Wilkins transfer centered on how the decision reshapes Cumberland County Schools’ long-term facilities plan.
Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, Alger B. Wilkins students will relocate from the school’s current Skibo Road campus to the Douglas Byrd Middle North building under a revised consolidation plan approved by the board earlier this year.
Under a previously approved multi-year construction timeline, the current Alger B. Wilkins campus was to remain under district control through at least the 2031-32 school year to temporarily serve students displaced during construction tied to Ferguson-Easley Elementary School.
Associate Superintendent of Auxiliary Services Kevin Coleman said district officials now plan to use available space at the current Ramsey Street campus in place of Alger B. Wilkins during that construction phase.
The adjustment comes after the board earlier approved relocating Ramsey Street High School to the former Pauline Jones Elementary School campus before the start of the 2026-27 school year, leaving the district’s existing Ramsey Street facilities available for future use.
Hales later questioned whether the board would continue moving district property transfers forward ahead of schedule if county commissioners make additional requests.
“So if they were to come back to us again and ask us to move another item up, are we just going to keep doing that?” Hales said.
