FACING THE VOTERS: Robert Queen, School Board

Robert Queen seeks return to Cleveland County school board after being voted out during the last election.

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent

Robert Queen is seeking another term on the Cleveland County Board of Education, hoping voters will give him an opportunity to return to a school board where he once served as a member and chairman.

Queen, a Crest High School graduate who earned a degree from N.C. State University in 1989, said he wants to build on the work accomplished during his previous four years on the board.

“I would like to continue the good work we did the four years when I was on there,” Queen said.

A business owner with four businesses, Queen argues that public education and workforce development are central to the county’s long-term economic health. His return to the ballot comes after he was defeated in the November 2024 election, making his latest campaign another opportunity to persuade voters that his experience is what the school system needs.

Queen has also been a controversial figure in local politics. Earlier this year, he sent a cease-and-desist letter to a local blogger, which The Shelby Independent published. His reputation among residents is sharply divided, a dynamic that makes his return to the school board race particularly notable.

Queen, however, wants the focus to remain on what he believes the school system accomplished during his tenure and what remains to be done.

“There’s no degree you can get to prepare you for board service,” he said.

Queen described education and workforce development as essential to keeping Cleveland County residents working and living in the community rather than leaving to find opportunities elsewhere.

“It’s the great circle of life,” he said. “You grow up here, get a job, pay your taxes and live here. Basically, if we create opportunity here, we can keep people here and prosper.”

One accomplishment he said he is particularly proud of is the expansion of the dual-enrollment partnership between Cleveland Community College and the public school system.

Queen was already serving on the college’s Board of Trustees when he joined the school board. He said conversations with the college’s president helped lay the groundwork for expanding opportunities for high school students to earn college credit.

“When I was elected to the school board, I was already serving on the board of trustees of the college,” Queen said. “I had lunch with the president of the college and we discussed how we can grow CCC.”

Queen cited a 13% increase in student headcount and a 40% increase in additional courses taken, which he said translated into $2.1 million a year in tuition savings for parents and families.

He said those numbers have continued to grow.

“Now we have 30% of our graduating seniors who have already obtained an associate degree or have transferable college credit,” Queen said.

Queen also pointed to expanded career and technical education offerings during his time on the board. He said students could begin exploring introductory career and technical education courses as early as fifth grade, with dozens of career pathways available to help prepare them for the workforce.

For Queen, those programs are part of a larger effort to connect education with the county’s economic future.

Looking ahead, Queen said recruiting and retaining teachers and other school employees will remain a significant challenge.

“Education is a tough business,” he noted. “You are mentally ‘on’ the whole time. To do that for 179/180 days per year is tough.”

He expressed respect for teachers and the demands of their profession, but said the challenges extend throughout the school system.

“Whether you’re working in the cafeteria, custodial, teacher’s assistant, maintenance or bus driver, you’re always dealing with kids, and it wears on the employees,” Queen said.

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He said the state and local school systems must find ways to recruit and retain qualified employees while also preparing the next generation of administrators and principals.

Queen said he and former Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher traveled to Raleigh to advocate for higher teacher pay. He added that succession planning is another concern, particularly as the school system prepares for leadership changes over the next four to 10 years.

The question, he said, is not simply how to retain today’s employees but how to ensure the school system has experienced people ready to step into leadership positions in the years ahead.

Facilities are another priority Queen identified.

He said the school system completed a facilities study in 2022 and developed a capital improvement plan. In his view, the next step is securing the funding necessary to address the needs identified in that process.

“It’s time to seek funding to make capital improvements and preventative maintenance for our buildings,” Queen said.

Among his priorities are expansion at Bethware Elementary School and a possible 10- to 12-classroom expansion at Kings Mountain Middle School. He said the projects could improve efficiency while accommodating the system’s facility needs.

Queen also identified roof replacements and bathroom modernization as areas requiring attention.

For him, facilities planning is a matter of addressing problems before they become more costly, rather than waiting until repairs can no longer be postponed.

Queen offered a pointed assessment of the current school board, describing divisions among members as an obstacle to effective governance.

“The school board has been fractured for years,” he said. “There’s a visible divide; it’s obvious who is there to serve the county and who is there to serve themselves.”

He also criticized what he characterized as performative conflict during board meetings.

“Loud and boisterous questions are theatrics disguised as fighting the good fight, but it’s usually noise,” noted Queen.

He said one of his priorities during his previous tenure was improving how the board conducted its business. He said he helped establish new mission and vision statements and introduced a committee structure intended to make the board more efficient.

The committee concept, he said, came from his experience with Cleveland Community College, where board members work through multiple committees.

Queen said the approach allowed members to address issues before bringing them to the full board, rather than attempting to resolve every matter during lengthy monthly meetings.

“It’s a more efficient way to operate the board than having a five-hour board meeting every month,” he said.

He acknowledged that the structure was not popular with everyone, suggesting that some members preferred the visibility of public meetings.

“Some don’t like the meetings because they’re not in front of an audience or a camera,” Queen explained.

His comments reflect the contrast he sees between his preferred approach to governance and the divisions he believes have characterized the board in recent years.

Asked to describe himself in three words, Queen chose leader, teambuilder and constructive.

He pointed to his time as chairman, including the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidence of his leadership. He said that period required decisions about returning students to classrooms, using COVID-related funding and establishing goals and plans for the future.

As a teambuilder, Queen said he seeks to bring the people with the necessary knowledge and experience together to solve problems.

He cited bringing the Cleveland County Schools superintendent and Cleveland Community College president together, involving experts in studies and working across party lines as examples of that approach.

His final word was constructive, which he described as a preference for repairing problems rather than dismantling an entire system.

“I believe in filling things up instead of tearing things down,” Queen said. “I fix what needs fixing and protect what works. You don’t burn the whole house down because you have a tear in the window screen.”

That philosophy, Queen said, is how he approaches school board service: identify what needs improvement, preserve what is working and bring people together to address the challenges facing the school system.

Whether voters agree with his assessment of the board, his record or his approach to leadership will be up to them to decide as they consider the candidates seeking to represent Cleveland County’s public schools.

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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent. 

THE SHELBY INDEPENDENT.