Moore County Schools: $7M General Fund balance, PTA politics, discipline report

The Moore County School Board reviewed the General Fund balance, PTA politics, rising suspensions, increased participation in a police-led intervention program, and approved emergency generators for three high schools.

The General Fund had $7+ million balance, which was an expected decrease of about 80% from last year’s end in June after operating expenses. Anderson Smith & Wike PLLC, the accounting firm conducting the Moore County Board of Education’s annual audit, reported no disagreements with district management, accounting misstatements or difficulties in completing its audit of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.

Auditors judged the district’s financial disclosures to be consistent, clear, and neutral, and the major accounting estimates reasonable.

The firm reported no circumstances that impaired its independence. However, auditors identified an opportunity to strengthen internal controls and operating efficiency, which was addressed in a separate letter to the school board.

Policy Code: 5010 PARENT AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Member David Hensley presented research on Policy 5010 in conjunction with Member Pauline Bruno.

The district has five PTOs and 10 PTAs, with several boosters. PTAs are nonprofits.

Hensley said during the election, a PTA member told people they should not vote for the constitutional amendments and said they were advocating for schools. Hensley said the state approved the PTA’s extreme advocation and said they should guard against “Trojan” advocacy groups. “We need to look at our organizations who we allow to use our names. Say there’s a PTA in Robbins that raises a bunch of money and it goes to the state association. We should tell them ‘no.’ You need to change your contract with Moore County Schools.”

Purvis said the school’s policy was broad about where money was allocated. If the PTA raised $5,000, it may not be used all at once and can be used in later years.

Hensley said the National PTA advocates for political agendas on tightening gun control and needs review.

I think it’s illegal to believe that someone based on race is inherenity evil.

Hensley read National PTA statements. He said it read that ongoing inequities have caused innocent deaths of dark-skinned people, and he believes that is illegal.

Hensley said the Southern Pines Elementary PTA’s address the old Southern Pines is Mary Harrison, who was a principal many years ago. He questioned if the PTA was still formed even it was listed with the state.

He explained the school to prison pipeline, saying students pulled into juvenile systems under zero-tolerance policies end up facing learning gaps and are primarily from marginalized backgrounds and of color. He said it implies organizationalized racism.

Hensley said the national conferences push advocacy or political positions.

He suggested they review PTAs and disassociate with those who do not support Moore County Schools’ policies.

Purvis said the 10 PTAs were longstanding, and parents were joining in good faith, not seeking to support national political agendas. She said the national groups are required to submit financial documents. The PTOs function similarly but are not aligned with state or local agencies. The financial issue of the PTO is that a treasurer who relocates makes it challenging to transfer ownership of funds, and she said they needed a formal financial policy. A financial policy is in place for boosters.

Benway said they needed to determine the value of each organization in teaching, learning, physical fitness and character building. “If they aren’t contributing to these four lines of effort, they are superfluous.”

Purvis said the organizations bring in additional funds, which is particularly helpful for building general funds in elementary schools to cover teaching tools.

Hensley said they build enthusiasm.

Johnson said they did not need to deep dive into a review because there was not an existing problem.

Benway asked for a two-page report on each organization’s purpose.

Hensley cited low audit discrepancy rates and that the national level school board association was a “political animal…It’s just another far-left wing [organization].” He argued that the national level commingled with local and formed alliances and discredited the organization. “They are for seat belts in busses.”

Bruno said the national level joined forces with the teachers’ union during the pandemic.

Lawyer Fees

The board reviewed legal fees and found an astounding $22,000 reduction in costs compared to last year in the first quarter.

Misbehavior Data

Dr. Hill, Dr. Neal, Chief Gooch, and Mrs. Synan presented student discipline data for the first quarter.

The board did not receive a thorough explanation of the numbers.

Numbers imply a tougher stance on misbehavior, but without explanation for stricter policies or changes in student behavior, the numbers leave the board and the public wondering.

Office discipline referrals dropped in the first quarter of 2026-27, but suspensions increased compared to last year. The district had 1,651 office referrals, 201 fewer than the 1,852 in the first quarter of 2025-26. Out-of-school suspensions rose 19.7% from 314 to 376, while in-school suspensions increased from 412 to 520.

Out-of-school suspensions hit a three-year high in the first quarter, rising from 280 in 2024-25 to 376 this year. In-school suspensions rose again after dropping from 583 in 2024-25 to 412 last year. The numbers hint at stricter discipline.

The Second Chance Program grew from five students in the first quarter of 2024-25 to 17 last year and 30 this year. Referrals to the Department of Juvenile Justice dropped from 19 to 17, and Teen Court had no student referrals this quarter, down from five in the past two years. The rise in Second Chance participation indicates more use of the intervention, but the district did not clarify if it was due to more incidents, broader eligibility, or changed referral practices.

Aggressive behavior was the top offense, with 474 incidents involving 363 students, about 29% of the district’s reports. Inappropriate behavior caused 430 incidents, making up 26%, while disruptive behavior caused 323 incidents, or 20%. The three categories together made up about 74% of incidents in the district’s top 13 offenses.

Member Steve Johnson pointed out that there are not more aggressive students, but more misbehavior is being reported.

Aberdeen Elementary reported the most aggressive-behavior incidents, with 82 cases involving 54 students. Both Robbins and West Pine Elementary reported 51 incidents. West Pine recorded 18 physical aggressive incidents, the most in its category. Robbins reported 14 physical-contact incidents involving six students, raising questions about whether repeat incidents involving individual students contributed to the totals.

Member David Hensley said elementary schools reported more aggressive behavior.

A member on the discipline panel said elementary students were still learning good behavior.

Superintendent Jennifer Purvis said they were looking at moving a vacancy to a general education counselor position to support teachers with misbehaving students.

Johnson said that the counselor was a great idea because some elementary students had not been identified yet as exceptional.

Several middle and high schools saw concentrated fighting incidents. Southern Middle, Crain’s Creek Middle, and Pinecrest High each had five fights this quarter. Southern Middle and Crain’s Creek Middle each had 11 students involved; Pinecrest High had nine. The figures point to spots for examining student behavior and supervision but do not include last year’s comparisons to track fighting changes.

Six assault incidents were reported by the district, four including students and two nonstudents. Each was an assault without a weapon and no serious injury. Since the presentation omitted other assault categories, the six incidents are not a full record of assault offenses.

View the discipline data.

Ken Benway said the report should be titled “Report on the State of Character.”

Teen Court was temporarily suspended until the retired leader is replaced.

Second Chance was created by the police department and neither it nor Teen Court are state mandated. The results are provided to the discipline panel, and the superintendent may view results upon request.

Regular Meeting

Low-Performing Schools

The board held a work session on Oct. 20 to review school improvement plans and approved them on Nov. 9.

On Oct. 20, Aberdeen Elementary School (AES) Principal Bridget Johnson shared the plan to lift the school from a low-performance grade of D. She explained the meetings to create the plan and identified the contributors. The goal is a C with a score of 60.

Review AES historical scores here.

The instructional and curriculum teams work together. The behavior data shows a high percentage of office referrals because they are now accurately reported. They looked for trends in which days, times and classrooms had problems. They compared last year’s absenteeism with this September’s data to jump on interventions.

The quarterly planning days are supported with paid replacement teachers to help them complete the tasks.

“We already have 100,” Johnson said about behavior referrals to the office, and that some were aggressive in nature.

The teams study what is working.

“We work with several churches,” Johnson said. “We are open to support from the board.”

Johnson said they use money wisely. They hired a full-time reading specialist, three part-time reading interventionists and one concentrates only on fourth graders, and a part-time math interventionalist.

Johnson said the majority of mentors are working as mentors for students with more than one behavioral violation.

Chairperson Robin Calcutt said she appreciated the thorough overview and that “you are reaching broadly into the community.”

Member Ken Benway asked about priorities.

“Interventionalists are where we put our money…and we track their data as well,” Johnson said.

Crains Creek Middle School (CCMS) has a D grade, and Principal Quinetta H. Pratt said

View CCMS data here.

Elise Middle School (EMS) Principal Carlos Rodriguez said the D grade was

Review EMS data here.

Generators at High Schools/Emergency Shelters

The board approved the county commissioners’ funding generator installations at the three traditional high schools. North Moore, Pinecrest, and Union Pines high schools will be potential county shelters during disasters or power outages.

The district will incur no cost for the generators and installation, funded by the Board of Commissioners. Installation of generators is planned for the district’s spring break when no students are in class.

Hensley had worked with commissioners for four years on using the schools’ food supply, which would otherwise spoil without refrigeration, during emergencies. He facilitated the generator installations, which serve as backup power.

“We have 35,000 meals…law enforcement, busses that can be converted to living areas, showers,” Hensley said about serving the public. He said it would be inhumane not to serve the public.

Purvis said the existing schools serving as emergency shelters faced challenges in serving people.

LED at North Moore High School

The district approved Tommy Lawrence Electrical Contractors, Inc., as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, in the amount of $421,015.00.

Because North Moore High School is not a Duke Energy customer, the board is investigating the rebate program.

During the work session, Dr. Patterson introduced a contract for LED lighting updates at North Moore High School.

The Moore County Board of Commissioners granted $600,000 to North Moore High School for athletic projects aimed at ROI and reducing costs. The school was allowed to select and ask for projects aligned with these priorities. The Board of Commissioners approved county funds on Oct. 20, 2026, for installing LED lights at North Moore High School fields.

Public Comments

Elizabeth DeGrave challenged the administration’s priorities and ethics after being removed from the substitute teacher list for social media use unrelated to the school district. She said student education was being compromised.

Amanda McBryde said the 37-page evidence packet from Oct. on special education she has not received notification of receipt or next steps before her requested deadline of Nov. 13. She requested a review by someone independent of her submission who was not identified in the evidence packet. She said she has a growing list of parents who have had the same problems.

Angela Bosick said Hensley had questioned her integrity. She said he implied he had damaged her reputation connected to her Southern Pines PTA involvement. Bosick district has transportation issues, and teachers are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation. She asked for a public apology and retraction from Hensley.

The next meeting is Dec. 14.

Nov. 10, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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