The Cumberland County Board of Education discussed possibilities of pursuing middle schools for the community at its September board retreat.
Director of Schools Rebecca Farley drafted an agenda to address several different topics during the board’s retreat. One of them dealt with implementing middle schools in the community.
The only community members in attendance for the retreat were Steve and Karen Frantzen.
Steve Frantzen asked the board how having a middle school would improve the student’s education.
“So middle schools will be more geared – the academics and the teachers that are there can – [to] concentrate on that age group rather than when they’re in an elementary school with a pre-K age, which is what we have now,” said Farley. “So we can focus on sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and their needs, social, emotional learning, academics and athletics compared to them being in a K-8.”
There are several options the board is looking at if it decides to progress with implementing middle schools in Cumberland County.
Farley presented a few options for the school board to discuss to determine how it would integrate middle schools into the existing community.
Option 1: Retro-fit existing buildings
Option 2: Build two new buildings
Nicholas Davis, 5th District, offered a third option to transition all of the high schoolers into one building and turn the other high school into a middle school
For the first option, the board talked about retrofitting Stone and Glenn Martin Elementary to accommodate the middle schools.
With the second option, the school system would have to figure out how to find the funding to build two new schools for a total of 14 school buildings in Cumberland County.
These options are not exhaustive as the discussion is ongoing.
The vocabulary term has evolved since January 2025 for the board but the school board indicated interest in implementing a special committee, middle school delegation team, or task force, to discuss how to develop middle schools in Cumberland County.
The board asked to have this matter added to the agenda to discuss at the next board meeting to vote.
Farley proposed two target start dates: 2027-28 or 2028-29. Farley developed a projected timeline using the target start date August 2027.
• By December 2025: develop a delegation. Between January and February 2026: hold community meetings.
• In March 2026: determine how to house the students. Between June and September 2026: begin the rezoning process if necessary.
• In November and December 2026: begin interviewing and select middle school principals and assistant principals.
• In February 2027: begin class offerings and schedules. In March 2027: share rezoning changes.
• In June and July 2027: offer summer school open houses for middle schools and rezoned families. In August 2027: possible middle school start date.
The school board discussed wanting to include community stakeholders in the conversation for implementing middle schools in the community. An example of some of the stakeholders to be part of the delegation team would be board members, parents, school administration, teachers, county commissioners, students and additional community members from business and civic organizations.
Farley stressed the importance of having community meetings to include the public in the decision making process.
“I really, really feel strongly about community meetings,” said Farley. “You know, let’s let these people be heard. I don’t care to go and do them by myself. But I really, really feel that we need to do these.”
Farley suggested these meetings be divided by feeder schools at the appropriate high schools. They could also be held at the Art Circle Public Library or at the Community Complex.
Farley suggested that the target start date for the meetings be January 2026 and hold multiple meetings.
The middle school conversation began with Farley sending out a survey at the beginning of spring break. There were 1,164 responses. The survey results indicated 78.4% in favor of transitioning two existing PreK-8 schools to two middle schools.
The survey also asked community members potential benefits to transitioning to middle schools as well as concerns.
Regarding potential benefits, 76.6% indicated they would see more tailored academic programs for middle school programs; 71.5% indicated that they would like to see better social-emotional development opportunities; 68.9% indicated that they would like to see improved access to extracurricular activities; 68.3% indicated they would like to see enhanced teacher specialization for middle school subjects; and 12.9% indicated other benefits not listed in the survey.
For the potential concerns, 60.3% were concerned with transportation and logistics; 39.5% were concerned with potential overcrowding or resource allocation; 36.1% were concerned with changes in school culture and community; 16.5% were concerned about the impact on younger students in grades PreK-5; 18.1% indicated other concerns not listed in the survey.
Farley stated several times in multiple meetings that she’s never seen such favorable results when it came to the middle school discussion from her 27 years in the district.
The middle school discussions began with the former director of schools, William Stepp, implementing a middle school task force at its December 2024 board meeting.
The board discussed scheduling an additional board retreat Nov. 6. The location is to be determined.
Elizabeth Stull, 1st District, and Anita Hale, 4th District, were not present at the retreat.
To share a public comment at the full board meeting Sept. 25, there will be a sign-up sheet outside of the board room. Comments are limited to three minutes. All public comments must adhere to board policy 1.404.
The Cumberland County Board of Education is scheduled to meet for its work session Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. in the Central Services building at 368 Fourth St. in Crossville. The agenda has not been set yet.