Moore County and Carthage officials review multiple sites as they plan a new Carthage Elementary

Moore County Schools and Town of Carthage officials met Nov. 20 to review options for replacing the aging Carthage Elementary School and to coordinate on utilities, traffic and timing for a bond request.

Assistant Superintendent for Operations Miss Purvis told the joint meeting the district’s master facility list (approved Dec. 4, 2023) prioritizes a replacement for Carthage Elementary, which currently serves “about 310 students,” and that an updated capacity study showed a 600-seat school would optimize enrollment in Area 1 to roughly 89 percent. Purvis said the board endorsed Pinnacle architecture and is using a proven single‑story prototype to speed design while continuing a county-wide site search.

The presentation laid out site-selection criteria—single‑story building preference, favorable topography, space for queuing and safe ingress/egress, water and sewer access, and the ability to cascade students from nearby schools to avoid costly core expansions. The district reviewed several parcels: a wetlands‑heavy site behind Cooper Ford (ruled impractical because Army Corps mitigation would be required); a low‑lying parcel with limited road access near Pizza Hut; a McNeil/Rockingham site with an 80‑foot drop (costly site work); a water‑treatment‑plant parcel with a cell tower and pond (buildable but challenging); and a town‑shared Needmore Road parcel the district described as relatively flat and approximately 30 acres but requiring annexation and engineering to address water‑pressure and lift‑station needs.

Town leaders told the board they had been working private landowners and said several parcels could be donated, sold at favorable terms or connected to additional access points. The town pointed to a privately offered 30‑acre donation cut from a larger 90‑acre tract and to recent and planned water‑system investments (the town cited an $8 million water upgrade that includes a roughly $2 million pipe enlargement for one neighborhood) that could reduce utility costs for some sites. Carthage officials also offered police support for traffic control at drop‑off and pickup at no cost to the district.

District and town officials discussed tradeoffs about school size and location. Purvis and Superintendent Dr. Lockley said building a 600‑seat core and completing classrooms at initial construction is more cost‑effective than piecemeal future add‑ons; board members and commissioners countered that if a site will not serve overflow from Bass Lakeview or Sandhills Farm Life, the district could consider a smaller initial classroom build‑out (roughly 400–450) and plan for later capacity additions.

Timing emerged as a practical constraint. Dr. Lockley told both boards the county commissioners are considering placing the project on a 2026 bond and the district needs enough information about topography, ingress/egress and general site magnitude to provide a defensible price range and finalize architectural details for a bond package. The district said the prototype plan could be finalized about two months after board approval, but site‑specific engineering would be needed to refine cost estimates.

No formal vote on site selection occurred at the meeting. Officials agreed to continue joint work—joint criteria development, prioritized course‑of‑action analyses and faster exchange of property and infrastructure details—so the district can narrow sites, complete engineering checks and present a recommended site and budget for the bond process.