SPRING LAKE — You cannot help but notice the old Lillian Black Elementary School whenever you are traveling along N.C. Hwy. 87 along the business district of this town.
The red brick school with the tall white columns has stood along South Third Street since 1938.
You don’t see students or teachers there these days.
The school has been shuttered since 2022, when the Cumberland County Board of Education unanimously voted on June 14 to close the school along with Ireland Drive Elementary School in Fayetteville.
“The next step will be what will we do with the buildings,” then-School Board Chair Greg West told CityView when we learned the school would be transferring Lillian Black students to nearby W.T. Brown Elementary.
Lillian Black Elementary, according to The Fayetteville Observer, closed because of electrical and HVAC issues, interior and exterior deficiencies including its roof. West described the school as “old and obsolete” to CityView after the board of education decision. West is a builder, so he knows something about construction.
Still, it’s a school similar to Alma Easom Elementary on Westlawn Avenue in Fayetteville with those white columns, dormers and a cupola. The mere thought of ever shuttering Alma Easom, and you’ll have a community mutiny on your hands.
But there was no opposition from anyone in Spring Lake about closing Lillian Black Elementary, so the school bell no longer would be ringing on South Third Street in this town.
Oct. 10, 2024
I reached out by email on Feb. 10 to Kevin Coleman, associate superintendent of Auxiliary Services for the school system, about the status of the school and wondering if the school system had plans to sell the building.
“Cumberland County Schools is waiting for official notification from Cumberland County as to whether they are interested in the building,” Renarta Clanton Moyd, manager of
communications and community engagement, responded by email on Feb. 18, referencing Cumberland County Schools Operations. “Once we receive this official notification, the district will either work with the county to transfer ownership or sell the property through a sealed bid process.”
Moyd also said the school was built in five increments starting in 1938, with completion in 1960.
I was traveling along N.C. Hwy. 87 on Saturday and found myself looking toward the school standing dormant. I was traveling along N.C. Hwy 87 on Sunday, and again found myself looking toward the school, and wondering just what is the plan for the county to purchase it.
On Monday, I reached out to Kirk deViere, chair of the Cumberland Board of County Commissioners, to ask if commissioners had plans for purchasing the school. DeViere said he has had no communication with the school system regarding Lillian Black Elementary School, but Commissioner Glenn Adams, then-chair of the commissioners, informed School Board Chair Deanna Jones some six months ago the county was not interested in the property.
“Dear Chairman Jones,” Adams wrote on Oct. 10, 2024, after much discussion, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners declined to exercise its option of Lillian Black Elementary School. “We deem the board of education’s asking price of $750,000.00 to be exorbitant and not in taxpayers’ best interest. Therefore, we decline to purchase at that price.”
Give it some thought.
I inquired about the status of Lillian Black Elementary School on Feb. 10, and the school system said on Feb. 18 it was waiting to hear from commissioners, who already had informed the board of education in early October it was not interested in buying the property. If the school board chair knew that in early October, then Cumberland County Schools executives, including Superintendent Marvin Connelly, should have known.
Leads one to wonder just who is driving the school bus at the Central Office out there on U.S. Hwy 301.
Epilogue
Greg West, the longtime school board member, did not respond to my email inquiry on Monday asking if there was any possibility for revitalizing the old school.
Commissioner deViere did say Monday that he and fellow commissioners Veronica Jones, Glenn Adams, Jeannette Council, Marshall Faircloth, Henry Tyson and Pavan Patel are not averse to giving more thought to the school’s potential fate.
“We haven’t had a conversation about the school,” deViere said, referencing three new commissioners, including himself, Tyson and Patel. “But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t entertain it from the school board. I do know that it is a question with Spring Lake, and they were interested in potential uses for it. We currently have not engaged the school board on it in any way since I’ve been the chairman, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t if there’s a good opportunity and the right use for it.”
Carrie Sutton, a former school board member, told The Fayetteville Observer in 2023 that the town might consider purchasing the school and using it as a Spring Lake museum. It’s not a bad idea at all.
Whatever the old building’s fate, it might be at the least a reasonable conversation to include county commissioners, school board members and the Spring Lake Board of Commissioners of Mayor Kia Anthony, Mayor Pro Tem Sona Cooper, Robyn Chadwick, Marvin Lackman, Raul Palacios and Adrian Jones Thompson.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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