Harnett County Schools passes $500K CTE design fee and Low-Performing Schools Plan without discussion

The Harnett County Board of Education approved $500k in design services and the Low-Performing Schools Plan at its Oct. 19 meeting.

The board approved design services for the new Career & Technical Education High School (CTE) to be constructed on property owned by Central Carolina Community College, adjacent to the main campus at 1075 E Cornelius Harnett Blvd. in Lillington.

SfL+a’s $500k design fee includes architecture, sitework, utilities, structural and mechanical systems, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, fire suppression, food service and technology infrastructure. Technology work includes cabling for phones, paging, data, security, surveillance, audio and video distribution systems. Servers, smartboards, laptops, phones, cameras, televisions and similar equipment are excluded.

The total design, construction and equipment budget for the CTE is $123,060,580.

The board approved the Low-Performing Schools Plan.

Assistant Superintendent Chris Pearson introduced the plan, but there was no discussion.

The board had scheduled time to discuss the plan at the Oct. 5 meeting, but other than Pearson’s introduction, there was no discussion.

Pearson said he’d received feedback from parents, as required by the North Carolina Department of Instruction, but did not share the feedback with the public or state if any parental concerns helped develop the plan.

The plan targets teacher collaboration, flexible small-group instruction, high standards, benchmark evaluations, and principal support.

The plan does not clarify the connection between teachers’ tasks and school achievement gaps or student needs. It does not indicate which, if any, of the strategies address student barriers.

Reasons for schools not meeting expectations are not in the plan but some can be found in public records.

For example, the 2024-25 School Report Card for Anderson Creek Primary, a Tier I school, with a D grade, shows the economically disadvantaged school population at 5.2% above the state average, plus, the chronic absenteeism rate is 5.3% above the state average.

Attendance, transport issues, and lost teaching time are barriers.

Students with economic hardships may lack access to books, technology, transport, tutoring, or quiet study areas. Financial strain can limit attendance and family support for school tasks.

Without discourse from the board, the public makes assumptions about school leadership, teachers and improvement plans.

The Harnett County Board of Education does not have operations, policy, curriculum, grievance, appeals, legislative, safety or recruitment and retention committees. The lack of committees obliterates opportunities to operate think tanks or facilitate public participation.

Both Moore County Schools and Lee County Schools work closely with committees for concentrated strategies and public participation.

Moore County Schools has three low-performing schools.

Lee County Schools has ZERO low-performing schools.

Harnett County Schools has six low-performing schools.

The next board meeting is Nov. 17.

Oct. 20, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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