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The Moore County Board of Education reviewed and edited policies during its Oct. 31 work session with Executive Officer for Human Resources Anita W. Alpenfels.

The Board discussed Moore County School’s Code of Conduct, which can be read here.

Executive Officer for Academics and Student Support Services Dr. Seth Powers presented discipline data.

The data revealed 35 fights and 13 assaults in the 2022-2023 school year, with data entry ending on Oct. 24.

There were nine fights in high schools, 18 in middle schools, and eight in the elementary schools.

There were six assaults in high schools, seven in middle schools, and none in the elementary schools.

North Carolina General Statute 115C-288 indicates the procedures for reporting the 14 reportable offenses to school administration and law enforcement. The general statute clarifies reporting of these offenses to the State Board of Education annually.

The data’s PowerPoint presentation may be viewed here.

A 2021-2022 data sheet revealed 81 reportable offenses. There were three personnel assaulted, 10 possessions of alcohol, one possession of a firearm, 40 cases of controlled substances, 26 cases of weapon possession and one sexual assault.

The majority of weapon possession cases was a pocketknife.

Possession of a firearm or destructive devise, such as a pocketknife, requires immediate expulsion for 365 days and may be permanent expulsion for a firearm.

A 2022-2023 reportable offense data sheet was not available but will be released in the spring.

In an email to Sandhills Sentinel, school board member Robert Levy said the Board spent two hours in closed session talking about personnel matters, some of which involved the problems at Crain’s Creek Middle School.

In October, a Crain’s Creek student was shown on video being allegedly assaulted by another student in a classroom.

A group of parents recently gathered outside Crain’s Creek Middle School protesting the ongoing issues at the school.

A small group of people held a peaceful protest near Crain’s Creek Middle School/Sandhills Sentinel.

Parents discuss issues at Crain’s Creek Middle School/Sandhills Sentinel.

There have been nine fights and three assaults at Crain’s Creek during the 2022-2023 school year up to Oct. 24.

“The details of those discussions [closed sessions] are confidential by law,” Levy said in his email to Sandhills Sentinel. “They also involve particular student information, which is also confidential. One major cause we discovered is that the redistricting and the low performance of feeder schools, Southern Pines Elementary in particular, may be an integral cause of Crain’s Creek’s problems.

“Therefore, a comprehensive approach is probably in order. That includes the recent assistant principal who was just assigned to Crain’s along with an influx of resources directed at both discipline and low-preforming students. But it also includes heavier discipline at feeder schools like Southern Pines Elementary.

“Finally, it requires that our administration take a close look at our leadership team with an emphasis on quick and certain consequences for those students who disrupt our classes and their learning environment.

“My point is that the discipline problem at Crain’s is real, and we are working on solving the problem. A lot will also depend on whether our new board becomes committed to that goal.”

During a discussion on revising policies, Levy said he wanted to clarify for the public the importance of removing the sexual identity language concerning discrimination from the Child Nutrition Policy 7040.

Levy said including the sexual identity language was a backdoor way to set up entry to bathrooms, locker rooms and sports by boys who one day decide they are a girl, and vice versa for girls who switch sexual identities.

“It sets up a nondiscriminatory policy,” Levy said about the lunchroom policy because, “You can’t have a policy that’s only in the lunchroom and not elsewhere.”

Policy 7040’s language on defining sexual identity was recommended in the aftermath of court cases and was from the State School Board Association.

The Board removed the sentence’s language, “including pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Board reviews policies and Crain’s Creek’s violence

The Moore County Board of Education reviews policies that impact all other policies during the Oct. 31, 2022, work session. Image provided.

“Chester the Molester could show up and say, ‘I identify as a girl,’ and nobody in Moore County Schools could stop Chester the Molester from identifying as a girl and going into inappropriate places,” school board member David Hensley said. “I think gender identity is just a made-up non-legal term. We need to be very careful about jumping on board with trends of the day.”

To read more about the video that was circulated on Facebook depicting a violent clash between two students at Crain’s Creek Middle School on Oct. 7, please click on below link/picture:

~Written by Sandhills Sentinel Journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. Contact her at [email protected]

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