The Cumberland County Board of Education on Oct. 28 approved a CNE (community needs evaluation) matrix to guide options for a future middle school, created a committee to apply the tool, and set a May 2026 target for the committee's work.

Board members voted to adopt the CNE matrix as the decision tool for the middle-school planning committee and to approve the committee membership. The board also approved a May 2026 end-date goal for the committee to complete the matrix and return recommendations to the full board.

The matrix approval was presented as a voting item during the board meeting after discussion at the middle-school committee and a prior work session. Board members said the matrix had not been materially changed since the work session; staff said a finalized version would be provided at the board retreat the following Monday.

Board members discussed how the committee would use experts and stakeholder groups to score sections of the matrix, including academic specialists, transportation and maintenance staff, and community stakeholders. A board member described the plan as calling for subject-matter experts to score academic elements and for separate stakeholder groups to score transportation and maintenance pieces.

During discussion the board clarified that committees typically record an internal vote before forwarding recommendations to the full board, and said the committee should record its consensus or vote for the public record when it delivers recommendations.

The board also briefly discussed scheduling: staff said the finalized matrix could be ready for the Monday retreat so the board would have time to review before the committee proceeded.

The motion to approve the CNE matrix passed with one recorded nay; subsequent motions to approve the middle-school committee and to set the May 2026 completion goal passed without recorded opposition.