More than 70 people crowded into the Robeson County Partnership for Children’s office in Lumberton on Friday to urge the group to allow the public school district to maintain Shining Stars, a pre-K program that serves low-income children and children with disabilities.
The partnership’s pre-K committee had voted 5-3 on October 13 to end its $1 million partnership with Public Schools of Robeson County, which runs the program in Lumberton and Pembroke. Some committee members cited a September 15 incident in which a child at the program’s Lumberton site was found outside unsupervised.
But school officials pushed back, saying it was best equipped to operate the program that serves 400 children.
“We have the tradition, we have the history, we have the qualified people—the highly qualified people—to meet the needs of these children who have severe needs that can’t be served elsewhere,” Richard Schwartz, attorney for the Robeson County school board told the partnership’s board of directors on Friday. “What is your Plan B? What were you thinking?”
The board ultimately reversed last week’s decision, opting to stick with the school district instead of finding a new partner to run Shining Stars. The Partnership for Children funds Shining Stars with money it gets from the N.C. Division of Child Development and Early Education.
“We wanted to do right by those kids and rescind our vote,” said Marie Clark, the partnership’s board chair.
Jessica Lowery Clark, director of the Robeson County Partnership for Children, said the organization will place Shining Stars on a corrective “action plan.” The board will hash out details of the plan in November, she said.
John Simmons, who chairs the Robeson County school board, said during Friday’s meeting that the September incident involved his grandson, who followed a friend out to a parking lot when the friend was being picked up from school. Simmons said he was initially upset but thought the partnership’s move to cut ties with the school district was drastic.
“We don’t blame Shining Stars,” Simmons said. “We more or less blame the parents. They knew that wasn’t their child, but they still let that child walk out with them instead of telling the teacher.”
Following the incident, Shining Stars updated its supervision and transition procedures, assigned additional staff to parking lot duty, and implemented additional door security, said Shining Stars principal Rebecca Chavis-Nolley.
The incident was one of five reported at Shining Stars sites in the last three years, according to the Robeson County Partnership for Children.
In January 2025, a sleeping child was left alone in a classroom for 10 minutes, the group said. There were three incidents in 2024 in which children were left unattended. One involved a child who was left unattended in a vehicle for three and a half hours, the group said.
All five incidents were reported to the state Division of Child Development and Early Education, Chavis-Nolley said.
The spokesperson for the state agency referred comments to the Robeson County Partnership for Children.
Amy Thomas, who has worked for Shining Stars in Pembroke for six years, said she was relieved the program will remain intact.
“I didn’t know if I was going to get to be a teacher or what we were going to do,” she said. “We’re excited for the kids. The kids get to keep the school, they get to keep coming to school.”
Candace Michelle Lowry, a pediatric nurse practitioner in Lumberton, said Friday that she has seen an increase in young patients with mental health concerns and developmental delays. Shining Stars, she said, is critical in helping those children.
“Removing a source of stability and early intervention moves this county in the wrong direction,” Lowry said. “Safety demands accountability, but so does this vote.”
Chavis-Nolley said her focus now is strengthening the school district’s relationship with the Robeson County Partnership for Children. “I’m thankful the partnership recognized the work our program has done and wants to maintain the educational opportunities our children and families deserve,” she said.