Moore County school board’s purchase of Carthage site draws criticism; commissioners call for joint review

The Moore County Board of Education reported on Oct. 27 that it has purchased a roughly 30‑acre parcel near the junction of Joel Road and Vass‑Carthage Road as a potential site for a replacement Carthage Elementary School and a future Planning/Accountability/Research (PAR) and IT facility.

In a presentation to a joint session of the Board of Education and the Moore County Board of Commissioners, Assistant Superintendent for Operations Jenny Purvis summarized a multi‑year site search and capacity study. Purvis said the district’s consultants recommended a 600‑seat elementary prototype for Area 1 and that the parcel offers “adequate acreage for queuing and future expansion,” is about 2.8 miles from the existing Carthage campus and would avoid the steep grading and wetlands that ruled out several other parcels.

The school board said it followed environmental due diligence. Purvis said contractors from ECS Southeast tested soil samples and that “they were all reported as ‘not detected’” for petroleum impacts; she said a water test detected acetone at a level far below state thresholds and that the official report was available.

Why the matter matters

The procurement and the site choice prompted immediate objections from Carthage town officials, county commissioners and neighbors. Objections focused on process — several residents and commissioners said they learned of the purchase only from public reporting after a tense exchange at a previous school‑board meeting — and on technical concerns including traffic, sewer access and the prospect of development pressure in rural areas.

What the district said it found and what it proposes

The district told the joint meeting it had sought parcels large enough to accommodate a school and a future PAR/IT building without costly site work. Purvis said the chosen site requires minimal…