The Moore County School Board conducted its regularly scheduled business meeting Monday.
National Board Certification is the most respected professional certification for teachers in K-12 education. Currently, 12 percent of Moore County teachers now hold this certification. In a presentation to the board, Cherisse Jackson, New Century Middle School Teacher and National Board Facilitator, recognized 13 teachers who re-certified and one teacher who received their initial certification. The teachers who re-certified are Stephanie Auman, Emily Braun, Rebekah Day, Rodney Garner, Andrea Hanlon, Kelli Klingenschmidt, Elizabeth Lariviere, Kimberly Patterson, Lori Paulus, Heather Plourde, Sheila Self, Christina Speiser, Patricia Ward, and Anita Mashburn earned her certification. For more information on National Board Certification click here.
In anticipation of the opening of new elementary schools in Aberdeen, Southern Pines, and Pinehurst, three Community Forums will be held in February and March to give the public an understanding of the framework being used for the next phase of student reassignment planning.
After the forums, an initial presentation will be presented to the school board in April. Additionally, the board will have a community meeting in mid-February followed by the opening of an online portal March 12 to gather community input for the nomenclature of the new schools in Pinehurst and Aberdeen.
The process will be repeated in April for the Southern Pines School with a community meeting in early March followed by an online portal opening March 12. The school board will make a final decision after all public input is received.
In other board business, a resolution granting local control of the school calendar was presented. This action aligns Moore County with a growing number of other school boards throughout the state who have approved a similar resolution.
A report on 2019-2020 Pupil-Teacher Ratio projections reported that grades K-3 will have an average class size of 18 pupils, grades 4-12 average class size will be 24 students. This is slightly better than the North Carolina average class size which is 19 and 25 respectively.
A proposal to rename the Union Pines High School greenhouse the Zach McNeil Greenhouse was also presented. Mr. McNeil was an agriculture teacher at Union Pines from 2014-2016 who was killed in traffic accident in June of 2016.
The greenhouse at Union Pines was a vision McNeil had to assist in growing the horticulture program, and while funding was approved before his death, he did not the see the fulfillment of his dream when the greenhouse was completed in June of 2017.
The proposal will now be presented to the public for their input through an online portal and a community meeting which will be held February 19 at 6: 30 p.m. at the Union Pines High School’s cafeteria. A report will be made to the school board at the March 4 work session.
The next board of education regular business meeting is set for March 11 at 5 pm.
Written by Sandhills Sentinel Government Reporter Chris Prentice.
Photo of recognition of re-certified teachers courtesy of Moore County Schools.
