Moore County officials have approved the offer from Pathfinder Investment Management, LLC for the site of the old Aberdeen Elementary School on U.S. Highway 1. The announcement – from the district staff – came at the Tuesday, September 8 work session of the Moore County School Board, held at Union Pines High School.
Officials reached their decision after the closing of an upset-bid process August 31. No upset-bid offers were received during the associated 10-day period, which began August 21.
Pathfinder would pay $1.5 million under the terms of the offer. The firm already paid the required deposit, $75,000 (5 percent of purchase price), to open the upset-bid window.
Board members also heard a presentation from the District Leadership Team regarding the start of the 2020-21 academic year. According to numbers provided, the district welcomed approximately 12,400 K-12 students, of which 8,718 are getting face-to-face instruction via the Plan B alternative. There are 3,682 learners in the CONNECT! Virtual Academy.
Virtual Back to School Nights, on August 12 and 13, attracted 1,420 logins, while there were 6,316 views of Back to School videos for high school. Between August 30 and September 3, there were 3,505 visits to the Back to School website.
To prep for returning students, 1,489 staff members received training via the Coronavirus Awareness and Safety program. Daily health screenings of all students and staff are taking place.
The team released data on new cases of COVID-19 among students and staff. Between August 17 and September 2, there were 14 new cases from the student population. For the same period, there were nine new confirmed cases among the staff.
As far as limiting the spread of the virus, the district is being proactive. To date, more than 60,000 face coverings have been given to students, more than 8,000 face coverings have been distributed to staff, teachers have been provided 1,080 boxes of gloves and more than 1,200 bottles of disinfectant spray have been provided to classrooms.
More than 1,000 gallons of hand sanitizer is available through either pumps or wall dispensers.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel Reporter Dave Lukow.
