Original Research by School Decision on Robeson Co Career Ctr
Robeson County Career Center sits on Hilly Branch Road in Lumberton, serving as a career and technical education pathway for students across Robeson County. The school operates as a traditional public career and technical institution within the Public Schools of Robeson County system.
The career center's data presents a singular constraint: the school appears to report no active enrollment at this time. Academic proficiency metrics, graduation rates, and chronic absenteeism data are all absent from state records, which is consistent with how career and technical education centers sometimes operate—they may serve students part-time, through cooperative arrangements with traditional high schools, or on a rotating cohort basis that does not align with standard enrollment reporting windows. Without enrollment figures and state test results, the school's current academic standing cannot be assessed from available data.
This enrollment gap is particularly significant given what is unfolding in the district. In August 2025, the Public Schools of Robeson County opened a major new career and technical education facility, the Robeson Career and Technical Education Center in Pembroke. This modern building, funded through a combination of state, county, and district resources, replaces the older Robeson County Career Center and expands the menu of offerings substantially. The new center includes programs in Drone Technology, Culinary Arts, Mechatronics, Welding, Emergency Medical Technology, Computer and Network Engineering, Carpentry, Masonry, Plumbing, and Electrical work. It also houses a newly built planetarium and science center, marking the first major school facility built from the ground up in the district in many years and the first constructed after Hurricane Matthew destroyed the district's previous planetarium.
For families considering a career and technical pathway in Robeson County, the transition from the Career Center in Lumberton to the new facility in Pembroke warrants a direct conversation with the district. The timing and operational details of the older center's closure and the new center's opening would shape whether a student's CTE experience happens at the Lumberton location or at the expanded Pembroke campus. The breadth of the new programs represents a genuine expansion of choice in skilled trades, dual-credit pathways, and health and technology careers within the county system.
Lumberton itself sits as a small county seat along Interstate 95, recovering slowly from major hurricane damage in 2016 and 2018. The city has a mixed civic character: a historic downtown core with the Robeson County Public Library, museums, theater, and riverfront park sits alongside sprawling commercial corridors and residential subdivisions. The job base centers on healthcare (anchored by UNC Health Southeastern), education, government, and I-95-driven logistics and retail. Housing recovery is underway with new apartment construction, though overall housing values are projected flat to softening through 2026. Employment edged down slightly from 2023 to 2024. The wider county has faced long-term economic constraints that shape the school system's resource position; the district ranks last in North Carolina for local per-student spending and in 2025 lost a major federal facility-improvement grant, forcing cuts to planned HVAC and infrastructure repairs.
For parents evaluating CTE as a pathway, the new Robeson Career and Technical Education Center in Pembroke represents a district commitment to skilled career preparation and equipment-intensive programs. The specific operational status of the older Lumberton location and how students are now routed between the two sites would be worth clarifying directly with the district to understand timing and program access for a prospective student.
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