Moore County Board approves superintendent search survey after debate over priorities and timeframe

The Moore County Schools Board of Education approved a revised public survey to guide its superintendent search during its Feb. 9 special meeting, concluding hours of discussion over the questionnaire's wording and time horizon.

Board members debated how explicitly the survey should prioritize classroom instruction versus managerial skills, whether the public should be asked to consider a five-, 10- or 13-year vision for district leadership, and how to phrase descriptive candidate traits. Mr. Benway proposed several edits that the board incorporated, including replacing passive language such as 'experience' with 'demonstrated mastery' and asking respondents about longer-term expectations for students. The board settled on a 10-year vision prompt and asked staff to post the survey with those edits for public input through Feb. 26.

Supporters of a longer horizon argued the district should measure progress over a full K–12 cycle; critics said shorter horizons align with typical superintendent contract terms and yield more actionable priorities. Several members and at least one public commenter also urged the survey to foreground instructional quality; proponents of the approved language said the survey will still allow respondents to emphasize instruction through clarified items (for example, by expanding 'curriculum' to 'curriculum and instruction improvement') and by leaving space for written comments.

BWP and Associates will gather the survey responses and stakeholder meeting input in February and present a draft leadership profile in March. The board directed staff to finalize the redlined survey and release it to the public with a QR link and an open comment period in late February. The survey vote was approved as amended.