Sandhills_Sentinel

During the December 9 Moore County Board of Education session, the board agreed that the new schools being built in Aberdeen, Southern Pines and Pinehurst would keep their current names – Aberdeen Elementary School, Southern Pines Elementary School and Pinehurst Elementary School.

The board was given closing dates for Aberdeen Primary, Aberdeen Elementary, Southern Pines Primary and Southern Pines Elementary. Aberdeen Primary and Aberdeen Elementary will no longer be needed for public school purposes on or about June 30, 2020. Southern Pines Primary and Southern Pines Elementary won’t be needed for public school purposes on or about December 31, 2020.

As far as bids regarding the abatement of asbestos at the old Pinehurst Elementary School, the board accepted a bid from Containment Control, Inc. The company’s bid was $157,800. Additional bids were received from two other firms. Both would’ve resulted in more expense for Moore County. The school is being torn down to make room for a new school, which will be twice the size. Since August, students have been attending classes in modular buildings at Rassie Wicker Park until the new $30.9 million school is completed. The two-story school, which will serve 800 students, is scheduled to open in August 2021. 

A report relative to class size for grades K-3 has been detailed for the board. According to State Law 2017.9, it’s required that superintendents provide a signed affidavit, on a biannual basis, stating class size conforms to regulations. Figures presented showed Moore County’s average K-3 class size is 17.41, and the average ELA class size is 16.65. Both figures comply with requirements. 

District officials also shared input received for plans to improve under-performing schools. An online portal was available to parents, guardians, personnel and the general public from November 13-26. The State Board of Education notified the county in October that Aberdeen Elementary School, Elise Middle School, Robbins Elementary School and Southern Middle School are low-performing schools based on their performance grade of a D. Elise Middle School became a low performing school this year with the remaining schools being low performing since 2015.

~Written by Sandhills Sentinel Reporter Dave Lukow.

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