Effort afoot to return controversial edu-crat to Lee County?

Dr. Jeff Moss has a way of stirring things up wherever he goes.  Until 2013, Moss had a stormy tenure as superintendent of schools in Lee County, North Carolina.  He left that position in  2013 to take the superintendent job in Beaufort County, South Carolina.  Earlier this year, Moss left the Beaufort job.

Meanwhile, there is  a search on for a new president of Central Carolina Community College in Lee County.  Several well-placed sources in Lee County tell us there is a serious campaign going on behind closed doors to bring Moss back to Sanford to fill that post.  

Moss made a lot of news during his previous tenure in Sanford.  He was accused of publicly cursing out a parent at a public forum.  Moss was accused of pressuring teachers to get their kids to lobby Republican legislators in Raleigh regarding education spending.  (Mo’ Money, of course.)

Moss also took a PR hit for what looks like a threat against a school system food vendor because one of its employees dared to criticize Moss.

Moss left Lee County in 2013 to head south of the border. In his application to Beaufort County, South Carolina, Moss said then-Gov. Pat McCrory wanted to hire him as his education adviser, but couldn’t match his salary. 

The folks in South Carolina brought Moss on board, but things didn’t settle down much.  In 2015, Moss was hit with an ethics complaint for putting his wife on the Beaufort schools payroll.  In 2016, state ethics officials ruled against him. 

In 2017, Moss and the school system took heat for questionable charges — including at least one to Victoria’s Secret — on school system credit cards.

Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating Beaufort County (SC) Schools construction practices (which were overseen by Moss).

In May, Moss announced his resignation from the Beaufort post with two years left on his contract.  He cited a wish to shift public attention away from him and back to the school system.