The Moore County Board of Education Construction Committee met on Wednesday to discuss the future of Carthage Elementary School. The meeting aimed to answer the question that has been hanging over Carthage Elementary for years: remodel or rebuild?
At 4:30 p.m., the Construction Committee and Moore County residents from all walks of life gathered in the school’s media center to engage in a group discussion. The meeting incorporated a presentation, community feedback, and group activities to determine the current consensus of employees, parents, residents, and other stakeholders alike.
“Our purpose on the agenda today is to have additional discussion about what we know to be significant improvement needs,” said Dr. Tim Locklair, superintendent of Moore County Schools. He and Jenny Purvis, assistant superintendent for operations, prepared a presentation talking meeting-goers through potential details of each possible process.
Purvis emphasized that the plan is only in its early stages of gathering community input and that nothing regarding Carthage Elementary is concrete yet.
She did, however, start the meeting by reviewing recently approved upgrades to be made to schools across the county. At a previous meeting, the Moore County Board of Commissioners endorsed the allocation of additional funds for districtwide improvements. With an anticipated surplus of $3.4 million from Bond Premium Funds, the focus will be enhancing safety and accessibility across the school district. This will involve updating playground facilities for improved safety and accessibility, replacing gymnasium bleachers at all three high schools, and upgrading auditorium curtain rigging.
Following these announcements, Purvis moved forward to discuss the main topic of the night.
Carthage Elementary was originally built in 1950 and has seen several additions over the years, with the last addition being in 2000. According to Purvis’s presentation, “The entire school is in need of significant renovations and upgrades which need to happen,” including renovations to roofing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, windows, lighting, and restrooms. Renovations would cost around $25 million without the addition of anything new.
While the first possibility is a complete remodel of the current school, a second proposed possibility is to begin building a new school on the current school’s plot. “We have explored the option of building on the current site; a two-story school would be built behind the current campus while students remained in session,” explained Purvis. “Once completed and students were moved into the new school, the old campus would be demolished, and a new traffic pattern and parking lot would be constructed.”
In recent years, Moore County’s growing population has resulted in issues with traffic, on-site parking, safely maneuvering school buses, and wait times for parents picking up their children. Purvis noted that the traffic often creates “a bit of a backup” onto the main road. Constructing a new school on the same lot would allow the traffic/parking situations to be reconfigured, possibly alleviating issues with traffic flow.
A third and final possibility is for an entirely new school to be built on a different tract of property. Purvis explained that the Carthage Board of Commissioners drafted a resolution in 2022 expressing their willingness to have the school built on a new site, but the Board of Education wanted to circle back to ensure they had the input of all current stakeholders. A new, suitable piece of land between 12 and 20 acres would need to be picked out and purchased for the new site, which has not yet been found due to the project still only being hypothetical.
This plan includes completely replacing Carthage Elementary School and expanding it to accommodate 150-200 additional students from Sandhills Farm Life School, aiming to address future projected capacity issues in Moore County. The estimated cost, as outlined in the Master Facility Prioritized List presentation, is approximately $40 million.
After Purvis had explained all three plans and finished the presentation, the meeting continued with a feedback-gathering activity. Participants divided into groups and engaged in discussions at their respective tables. Each group shared three key priorities they deemed essential for the future direction, two considerations they wished to be taken into account during decision-making, and one remaining question they had.
After 10 minutes of brainstorming, discussing, and writing, participants had completed lists encompassing what the most pressing issues were to them, which they stood and presented to the rest of the crowd.
Most parties addressed current campus safety. Parents especially voiced concerns about Carthage Elementary’s current open campus, which they feel raises a number of safety concerns. Many in attendance agreed they would like to see the school rebuilt with a closed campus, eliminating the possibility of strangers entering campus and small children walking long distances unenclosed.
Mayor Jimmy Chalflinch and Town Manager Emily Yopp attended the meeting and joined in on the activities. “In 50 years, given the trajectory of growth in Carthage at the current time, I don’t know if it would be wise to plan only one school to serve us for 50 years,” noted Yopp. “I anticipate Carthage will be much, much larger than it is now. We will need a second elementary school.”
Other concerns repeatedly touched on by participants in the activity include:
Clean drinking water
Better traffic flow
Accessibility
Efficiency
Better/more cohesive layout
Comfort considerations for students
As the meeting concluded, Dr. Locklair and Purvis thanked everyone for joining the discussion and sharing their feedback, which will help the project gain traction and work toward a more specific direction. “We will go back with Construction Committee to discuss the feedback and gain some forward movement,” Purvis ensured as the meeting adjourned.
~Article and photo by Sandhills Sentinel copy editor Abegail Murphy.
