The red brick halls of Lillian Black Elementary School have sat empty in Spring Lake for nearly four years.
Built in phases between 1938 and 1960, the aging school on South Third Street closed in 2022 after Cumberland County Schools cited mounting facility deficiencies, including problems with HVAC systems, electrical infrastructure, roofing, and equipment.
Students were reassigned to nearby W.T. Brown Elementary School, less than a mile away.
Now, district leaders are proposing to transfer the shuttered property to Cumberland County for $1—a move that sparked confusion and skepticism over whether the district is being fiscally responsible or pragmatically cutting ties with an aging liability.
During the Cumberland County Board of Education’s Auxiliary Services Committee meeting on Thursday, board members questioned why the district is only now moving forward with the proposal after years of stalled conversations. They also questioned whether giving away public property makes sense while the district faces long-term financial and facility needs.
The committee ultimately voted 3-1 to approve selling the former Lillian Black property to the county for $1. Greg West, Susan Williams and Vice Chair Jacquelyn Brown voted in favor, while Terra Jordan voted against. The full school board is scheduled to consider the issue on June 9.
According to the resolution, the board unanimously voted to close the school in June 2022 and later declared the property surplus in August 2023 after officials deemed the building unsuitable for future district use.
The school district offered to sell the property to the county for $750,000, which commissioners rejected. In an October 10, 2024 letter to the district, Glenn Adams—then chair of the board of commissioners—called the asking price “exorbitant and not in taxpayers’ best interest.”
Questions About Timing, Price
Board member Deanna Jones questioned why the district was revisiting negotiations years after the school closed and whether county commissioners had ever officially declined the property.
“So when that was approved, the next step was to go back to the commissioners, so did they want the school at that time?” Jones asked.
Yet Adams’ 2024 letter declining to purchase the school was addressed to Jones, who at the time was chair of the school board.
Kevin Coleman, associate superintendent for auxiliary services, said county leaders initially showed little interest in purchasing the property at its appraised market value.
“At that time, they said that they were not interested,” Coleman said during the committee meeting Thursday. “We did a fair market value evaluation during that time, early on, and they verbally said that they were not interested in that time.”
Coleman said discussions shifted as county interest evolved and district leadership changed.
“When Dr. Connelly was here, and we verbally asked, they said they weren’t interested, and then it became a negotiated price back and forth,” Coleman said. “There wasn’t a final stop to it at that point, so this is us trying to clean everything up and do it as it should be done.”
Board attorney Nick Sojka added that previous conversations between the school district and county leaders had remained verbal and informal.
“Mr. Coleman alluded to those conversations, but those conversations were verbal,” Sojka said. “We never had anything official in writing from the commissioners or anything authorized by the commissioners to get to that point.”
Sojka and the board committee did not reference the county’s 2024 letter declining to purchase the school during their discussions on Thursday.
But some board members questioned whether the district should now revisit negotiations altogether.
“Why is it that we cannot go back and discuss a different price, because the school system can use the money, and we know this?” board member Mary Hales said. “Why are we just saying one dollar after all of these years? You have different board members on this board and different board members as county commissioners. So why are we basically giving it to them?”
Coleman defended the proposal as part of a broader relationship between the school district and county commissioners
The discussion comes as Cumberland County Schools seeks roughly $110.3 million in county funding for the 2026–27 school year—a roughly $6.5 million increase over the current year’s allocation. County Manager Clarence Grier’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget recommends $105.8 million for the district, about $4.5 million less than requested.
The school district and county are also navigating a broader long-term facilities partnership. In February, Cumberland County Schools requested $300 million over seven years for deferred maintenance and another $160 million for future school construction and renovation projects as part of the district’s long-term facilities plan.
County and school leaders have since continued discussions over how those projects would be funded and phased in, including possible financing methods, construction timelines, and long-term agreements between both boards.
Earlier this year, the school board also approved a request for up to $150 million in county construction funding for a new E.E. Smith High School, which district leaders have identified as one of the system’s top long-term facilities priorities.
“I think it really goes into the bigger picture of what we’ve got going on right now,” Coleman said. “Looking at the other things happening with the county—providing us $300 million for deferred maintenance and all of the things we’ve already talked about—I think it’s part of the bigger picture.”
Hales said she remained skeptical of tying the decision to the county’s long-term commitments to school facilities, noting that funding plans can shift over time
“We’ve got to look at what’s in front of this board and this school system right now,” Hales said. “Anything can happen in between those seven years. I’m trying to understand the rationale behind just giving it to them for one dollar on the premise that they’re going to help this board down the road.”
‘It’s a Liability for Us’
West argued the property had become more of a financial burden than an asset.
“Four years ago the fair market value for this school was $750,000,” West said. “The building has no value, it’s a liability. We closed it as a school four years ago because we didn’t need it, and we’ve been carrying it for four years while there’s been turnovers and boards, commissioners and us, and it’s just kind of been hanging out there.”
West said the district continues to shoulder financial responsibility for maintaining the vacant property.
“It’s a liability for us,” he said. “We’re not paying taxes on it.”
West also raised concerns about demolition and environmental costs if the district were forced to maintain or eventually demolish the site.
“Looking at that campus, that’s probably $500,000 to $600,000, if not a million dollars to demo,” West said. “So it’s a liability, financially, insurance-wise and everything.”
Brown asked whether Cumberland County Schools would remain responsible for upkeep if the property continues sitting vacant.
“If the building just sits there like it is doing so, it’s up to us to keep up and maintain?” Brown asked.
West responded simply: “Yes.”
In March, the school board reversed an earlier vote to demolish the former Pauline Jones Elementary School and sell the property to the county for $1.
‘It Doesn’t Make Sense’
Jordan, who voted against the proposal, questioned why district leaders had not pursued a lower-cost agreement years earlier if county officials were eventually willing to accept one.
“Some of us have been sitting on this board for years, and you decided to sit on this building and you kept doing it,” Jordan said. “You did not negotiate a price with them.”
Jordan also asked why the district would now move to transfer what she described as valuable land while simultaneously facing financial constraints.
“You’ve been sitting on this land all of this time, and now all of a sudden, you’ve decided that you don’t want it, now we’re just gonna give it to somebody for a dollar,” Jordan said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Jordan also argued the district should consider how residents may view the decision as schools continue asking for funding support.
“We gave them plenty of opportunities,” Jordan said. “When we’re going into the public and saying, ‘Why are we giving stuff away for a dollar?’ while also saying we don’t have any money, it just doesn’t make sense.”
‘An Opportunity for Spring Lake’
Others on the board argued transferring the property could ultimately benefit Spring Lake and remove a long-term burden from the district.
Board member Jackie Warner said school systems rarely receive fair market value for aging school buildings once they enter the public bidding process.
“When you put schools up for sale, you have to take the lowest bid,” Warner said. “You don’t get fair market value. People know you’re putting it up for bid, and then what happens is they get it for undercut because they realize they’ve got to pay all this money now to get rid of the asbestos, tear it down.”
Warner said transferring the site to county commissioners could create future redevelopment opportunities for Spring Lake. But the school board voted May 12 to close Manchester Elementary School, which will leave the town with two empty school campuses.
“If the county commissioners want to help Spring Lake, Spring Lake may want to turn that into something that could be useful,” Warner said of the Lillian Black property. “This takes one building away from us from maintenance, from liability, and also is an opportunity for Spring Lake.”
Board member Susan Williams echoed that perspective, saying the current relationship between county commissioners and school leaders may present a rare opportunity for collaboration.
“We’ve not had a group of commissioners that was open to even negotiating what we’re being able to negotiate now,” Williams said. “We have an open season here with collaboration that we’ve not seen.”
Hales remained unconvinced.
“We’ve got to look out for Cumberland County Schools,” Hales said. “Until we have all of this money that the county commissioners are saying they’re going to give to this school system, we don’t have it in hand.”
