It was only fitting, because the meeting was being held at the Moore County school system’s central office in Carthage. As superintendent of the host school system, Purser was delighted to begin the meeting with a brief presentation on the Moore County school system.
“It was exciting to have them here,” Purser said. “It was a great opportunity to be able to share with them a little bit about Moore County.
“It was an opportunity, as superintendent, to address the state board and talk about the challenges that we deal with at the school level with regard to legislation and what the state board and Department of Public Instruction (DPI) do.”
Purser’s presentation, which provided the state board with a look at the recent progress in the Moore County school system, was the first item on a busy agenda for the state board. Among the agenda items were discussions on charter school renewals, federal grant allotments and school calendar bill waivers.
Her presentation highlighted among other things the need for new facilities in Moore County. She also spoke about improving teacher retention and recruitment and how the school system is making efforts to hire more minority teachers.
Howard Lee, chairman of the state board, said he’s been impressed with the Moore County school system.
The visits to school systems around the state are part of an effort to increase the state board’s exposure across the state. He said the state board “always tries to leave Raleigh on occasion” and that it’s important to give citizens a chance to see the state board in action.
“We specifically wanted to come to this area,” Lee said during a break. “We wanted to come to Moore County because there has been some controversy about the SAT. We’ve recognized that much of that has been dealt with effectively and we thought holding a board meeting here would give the county an opportunity to show itself off because it is one of our high performing counties and certainly an area where growth is impacting the schools but is being managed well.”
Lee said coming to Moore County was like coming home because he represented the area in the North Carolina Senate for several years.
“I’m extremely impressed with Moore County and the creativity that’s been going on here,” he said. “But I’m more impressed with the cooperation between the school system and the community college.
“We are so fortunate to have (Sandhills President) Dr. (John) Dempsey here and Dr. Purser here. The fact that they are creatively marrying these systems and allowing students to leave high school with a marketable skill is great.”
First Step Program
Deputy Superintendent Larry Upchurch and Suzanne Adams from Sandhills Community College gave a brief presentation on the First Step Program, a collaboration between the Moore County school system and Sandhills that will enable high school students to earn college credits.
“It was a great opportunity to highlight for the state board the collaboration between Sandhills Community College and Moore County schools as we continue with the full implementation of the First Step program,” Upchurch said.
The program was first approved by the school system and the college in October 2003.
“It was designed with full implementation beginning with the freshman class during the 2004-2005 school year,” Up-church said. “We’ve been working with Sandhills to expand and offer classes to students that are now juniors and seniors as a way to help us understand any problems we may have as we go to full implementation.”
Students entering the program as freshmen this year could earn 12 hours of college credit by the time they finish high school. Students can take classes on a two-year college track or they can focus on taking courses that would transfer to four-year colleges.
Lee said he was impressed by the growth the Moore County school system is experiencing.
“We tend to think of Moore County as a retirement community as opposed to a place where younger people are coming,” he said. “We tend to forget the impact of Fort Bragg, but it’s also a growth county in other ways because there are jobs that are being created here.”
Lee was surprised to learn that Moore County hasn’t built a new high school since 1969, when Pinecrest opened. The Moore County school system has nearly 12,000 students this year and is expected to pass that threshold next year.
Purser said she was pleased to know that Lee referred to Moore County as one of the state’s top districts.
“That’s great,” she said. “I made sure I stressed those points about our high performance, but we still have so many challenges that we’re addressing.”
Purser said she was also pleased that Lee was impressed with the way the school system is moving on after last year’s SAT controversy.
“I definitely agree with that,” she said.
School Calendar Woes
Some school systems are struggling with creating their calendars for the 2005-2006 school year in the wake of the passage of a school calendar bill that requires systems to start each year no earlier than Aug. 25 and end each year no later than June 10.
That means students in Moore County, who began the 2004-2005 school year on Aug. 11, will begin next year at least two weeks later than this year.
Purser said in December that the Moore County school system hopes to have a proposed calendar to present to the school board during the work session scheduled for Jan. 24.
Ebbie Monroe, who’s represented District 4 on the state board for 9 years, said she was pleased that the state board was able to visit her home county.
“This is the third visit they’ve made since I’ve been on the board,” she said. “I’ve always been pleased when they visit and have always been very proud of Moore County. It’s great for my fellow board members to see where the Moore County school system is and how well it’s doing.”
The state board began their January session Monday with a planning retreat at The Carolina in Pinehurst.
The session continued Thursday with a meeting at Sandy Grove Elementary School in Robeson County and concluded with a visit to Hoke County High School in Raeford.
