Why Keith Byrd Is Running for Cumberland County Board of Education

Keith Byrd doesn’t have to leave his day job to see some of the challenges facing Cumberland County Schools. He encounters them from inside a classroom.

Byrd currently teaches fifth-grade general education at College Lakes Elementary School, where he teaches math, reading, science, and social studies. A graduate of Seventy-First High School and the father of three sons who attended Cumberland County Schools, Byrd’s connection to the district stretches from his own time as a student to his current work as an educator.

Byrd said he has received the state’s Teacher Legislated Performance Bonus for the past three years, an award available to teachers whose student-growth scores place them among the top 25% statewide or within their school district in eligible grades and subjects.

Before becoming an educator, Byrd spent his career in the military, retiring as an Army lieutenant colonel after serving as Fort Bragg’s provost marshal, or police chief.

Now seeking one of three at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Education, Byrd is making employee morale a central theme of his campaign. He argues that reducing stress on teachers and giving them greater flexibility to teach can improve both employee retention and student achievement. 

He also says the board should support the superintendent while asking tough questions and evaluating whether district leadership is making progress toward Cumberland County Schools’ goal of becoming the highest-performing district in North Carolina.

What are the top two issues the Board of Education should focus on over the next four years? How would you approach them?

The first issue for the board is to support the superintendent. We have a vision for Cumberland County Schools. It’s outlined in the district’s  Strategic Plan 2026–2031: The Path to CCS Excellence, with our North Star—Cumberland County Schools will be the highest performing district in North Carolina. So, we’re going to focus on getting everyone on board to support the plan.

The second issue for the board is to appraise the superintendent’s performance. That involves asking the tough questions of the superintendent, again, so we can best support the goals outlined in the strategic plan. And the biggest thing I see right now that is standing in the way of us reaching our north star, is morale.

The morale of the CCS employees and parents. Employee morale (with an emphasis on teachers) will be front and center when it comes to appraising the superintendent’s performance. It’s not enough that employees come to work and do their jobs. It matters that they enjoy coming to work. That enthusiasm translates directly to both student achievement and parent satisfaction.

Cumberland County Schools has faced difficult decisions involving school closures, facility maintenance, and consolidation. What principles would guide your decision-making when evaluating future facility needs?

There’s a time for emotional pleas, but when it comes to spending the public’s tax dollars, decisions must be based on sound reasoning that everyone can understand, even if they don’t agree with the decision. Morale takes a hit when people in authority fail to provide clear and simple rationale for what they do. It makes people feel powerless, marginalized, and left out. 

If you keep the facts and explanations simple, everyone will come to the same conclusion as to what is in the best interest of the community, even though they still may prefer not to close a school based on their personal attachments, which is understandable. What evidence, in simple language, do we have to show the public that closing a specific school is going to help us reach our goal as outlined in the strategic plan? That’s what the public needs to hear. If you can’t provide that, then you need to find an alternative to closing a school.

How can Cumberland County Schools best support students with disabilities and ensure families have confidence in the district’s special education services?

Most people, even school employees, can’t fully appreciate the work that goes on with our special needs community. So, in a sense, those employees are strangers to most of the community. My faith teaches me to be hospitable to strangers, because in doing so, many of us have unknowingly entertained angels. I reflect on this whenever I encounter any of our teachers of exceptional and autistic children.

Our most vulnerable student population deserves the most resources and the best care possible. I cannot imagine any request for support to our special needs population that should go unfilled. That’s part of providing every student with the opportunity to receive a sound basic education.

Student enrollment has declined in recent years. What role, if any, do you believe the Board of Education should play in attracting and retaining students and families in Cumberland County Schools?

Among other things, safety is at the top of the list of reasons for parents sending their children to private schools. Based on my experiences as a former military police officer, and former officer with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, I can assure you that the lack of a safe environment, whether real or imagined, affects people’s decisions, especially when it comes to protecting their most cherished possessions. Parents want to know that their kids are safe when they turn them over to schools. 

From teaching high school in Lenoir County (2 hours east of Fayetteville), to teaching elementary school here in Cumberland County, I’ve witnessed the full spectrum of chaos, disorder, and lack of discipline in schools. The concern for safety is very real and I’m not going to pretend it’s not. In fact, many of our own CCS employees (principals, teachers, and every other type of employee) send their kids to private schools.

To that end, I want to assure the superintendent that a spike in suspensions (in-school, or out-of-school, or of any demographic group) will not be viewed as something negative. If we need to expand the capacity of our existing alternative schools, let’s draft the proposal so we can budget for it. We need to create an environment where parents hurry to enroll their kids back into CCS from private schools. This too, speaks to morale. 

What steps can the Board of Education take to recruit, support, and retain high-quality teachers and staff?

The board needs to affect policy changes which will ensure teachers are given more flexibility to teach. Today’s classrooms are more about teachers doing everything but teaching. They’re psychologists, counselors, technology specialists, daycare workers, and everything else which reduces or eliminates altogether, teacher flexibility and student accountability for learning. 

Teachers are getting hit from all sides, by parents, students, and even administrators. Can you imagine teachers having to meet four days a week to brief the principal on what progress their students made the day before? Again, the same meeting, four days a week.

This is not fiction, this is fact. Now, imagine the morale of those teachers, who, after being grilled for an hour, four days a week, must then go into the classroom and teach your children. Do you really think that’s an environment conducive to retaining high-quality teachers and staff?

In 2021 a well-respected CCS principal stated, “Treat people like professionals and they will act like professionals.” Those are words to live by when it comes to retaining high-quality teachers and staff. Teachers are highly educated, well-trained professionals who join the industry with hopes and dreams of changing the world for one student at a time; inspiring young minds to think, learn and grow. Surely, we can increase efficiency while eliminating fatigue among school employees. 

Stop stressing out the employees. When it comes to teachers, let them do what they’re good at. Let them teach. 

What are your views on year-round schools? What factors would you consider when making decisions about expanding or maintaining year-round calendars?

One of the many things CCS does right is provide schools of choice. While operating costs may be slightly higher at year-round schools, the instructional time is the same. More importantly, year-round schools provide an additional option for schooling, an option which should be maintained as it helps us further compete with other districts and with private schools within our district. 

Cumberland County Schools currently has several schools identified by the state as low-performing. What role should the Board of Education play in improving student outcomes at those schools? What strategies would you prioritize?

To improve student outcomes, the board needs to eliminate bureaucratic stress from the classrooms. Right now, for example, teachers spend virtually more time testing students than they spend teaching students. And for low performing schools, they have even more requirements and receive even more guidance—additional people walking through the schools, imposing more of the same curriculum requirements that didn’t work in the first place.  

Dr. W. Edwards Deming was an American statistician and educator. Deming put forth the idea that if you’re not getting the results you want, don’t look at the employee as the problem. Look at the problem with the system. I’ve never met a CCS employee who didn’t give 100% effort toward his/her job.

I’m fortunate that I had the opportunity to work for two awesome CCS principals (Larry Parker and Jimmy Mask), both of whom understand that employee morale is everything. Teachers do their best work when they’re not stressed out; when they’re happy.But not every teacher is so lucky.

This summer, I spoke with a principal of a low performing school who stated, “If my teachers aren’t going home stressed every day, I feel like they’re not doing their job.” Honestly, that stressed me out just sitting and listening to those words.

No one goes to work thinking, “I want to be a low performer, today.” No. CCS employees come to work every day planning to do a good job. They come to work planning to meet the expectations set by their supervisors.  As I followed some of the CCS leadership changes this past school year, I thought to myself, “It’s about time.” 

Our schools deserve leaders who will keep employee morale front and center as we approach our north star. I look forward to supporting more leadership moves which will allow teachers to focus on student achievement while elevating employee morale.