The Cumberland County School Board approved a new contract for new Director of Schools Rebecca Farley Wednesday with the exception of an annual bonus.
Board Member Scott VanWinkle expressed concern with the incentive bonus in Farley’s contract, which could be worth up to $5,000 on top of her $135,000 salary. VanWinkle said he wanted the bonus structure to be separate from the contract.
“We still don’t have anything other than a survey that’s is based on feelings and not facts,” VanWinkle said. “And I feel like we need that in place before we start to incentivise and provide bonuses for scoring.”
The school board ultimately rephrased the contract so a performance incentive would not be awarded until after an evaluation is complete. The new language allows for more time for the board to decide exact parameters of the evaluation.
Farley’s first evaluation will be during the summer of 2026.
Another point of contention was the contract’s four year term. VanWinkle said although Farley was an excellent interim, four years was too long for a new director. Conversely, Board Member Sheri Nichols said a four year term will provide the consistency that Cumberland County Schools has lacked over the last several years.
“I think that we have to be brave enough to step out and say we’re going to give this four years as an incentive for people to work hard,” Nichols said. “You’re going to work harder at four years than you are at two years. You’re going to make more of a commitment to follow through.”
The four year term was left unchanged.
Farley’s contract includes a $600 vehicle allowance. School policy requires most employees to use company vehicles or fill out mileage reports for business use, but Farley would be allowed to use her personal vehicle.
The argument for the vehicle stipend was that Farley would need to travel all over the district as part of her job. A monthly stipend would be enough to cover insurance, fuel, and maintenance costs. It would be offered in lieu of payment per mileage, and much cleaner on paper for both Farley and the school system.
VanWinkle said Farley should be required to stick with existing policy, but many other board members did not take a side on the issue.
“I think the $600 is nothing to put towards a car you’re putting wear and tear into every day,” Nichols said. “I say that because I drove mine 220,000 miles into the dirt.”
Farley’s contract was approved by a 5-2 vote. VanWinkle and Anita Hale cast the two no votes. Nicholas Davis and Jon Matthews were absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
