Did Moore County schools officials ignore 2017 warnings and concerns about Aberdeen school site?
Construction is underway on a site off NC 5 between Pinehurst and Aberdeen for a new Aberdeen elementary school. The site is located in the vicinity of an environmental superfund site and a number of industrial sites that utilize toxic chemicals. It came to light that the school system neglected to perform some key environmental testing before proceeding with construction of the new school.
Of course, there was plenty of public uproar. School administrators grudgingly authorized additional testing of the site, where construction is well-underway. Administrators and their sycophants on the school board complained it was all a waste of money egged on by rabble-rousers in the community.
Then, the emails showed up. It appears a consultant working with the school system raised concerns about environmental conditions at the site as far back as 2017:
This email was followed up by a rather interesting note to Birath from Richard Brown, with Building & Earth:
[…] “This documentation does not demonstrate there are no hazards remaining.” […] It also does not address the risk of the hazards making their way to the school site […]
Let that sink in for a minute. The experts hired by the school system made that assessment, and our school “leaders” pressed on with the project with NO FURTHER TESTING.
We need some straight answers (1) from our EMPLOYEES at the Moore County schools central office and (2) from the elected officials on the county board of education who are supposed to be our eyes-and-ears on matters like this.
They absolutely owe us an answer! Not only did they know back in 2017 but they still aren’t doing what Building and Earth recommended doing. The negligence here is unacceptable. How much more is the community going to allow the boe and superintendent to get away with? Has it occurred to any of them that if one student or teacher gets sick the boe/super will be held accountable for this! I’m sure the bob mob will find some way to excuse this and they should be accountable as well. Isn’t the leader of the mob a pediatrician? I am beyond disgusted.
Their blatant disregard to the concerns of the public on the matter of this risk to the children and staff that would inhabit this school is a Disgrace Plane and simple.Make no mistake that there is more concerns as well about the way things other than just the way they have handled this matter.A investigation should be made of the entire process of Redistricting , bidding process of contractors.And an audit.
Bottom word Is
Fire
Bob Grimesey
John Bireath
Libby Carter
And anybody else that upholding this
To start with
enough Is enough
It’s lye after lye
At cost of us taxpayers and Our Family Life’s
Agree 100 this is a great start. I don’t know how this people sleep at night with their decisions ., When this got to do with kids n staff ., in their own county.
Thank you for printing news that our paper – The Pathetic Pilot – Will Not print.
John Birath has a lot more to answer for than this. So does our Superintendent – Bob Grimesey.
I hope our citizens will demand answers.
John, I bet if we get a forensic audit done we might have a clearer picture of why The Pilot is so supportive of the boe and superintendent. Citizens better demand answers or things will just get worse for our county. This disaster will bring the county down and it will never be the same again.
This could create some problems. Hope more evaluations indicate No Health Concerns!
Even if this comes back that the site is clear, as a county do we really want leaders who are willing to risk the health of ANY child in our communities? I think the biggest problem has already been created…the lack of concern for our children from those who are making the decisions.
Interesting news and definitely something I hope is followed up on. I wish there had been concern about existing Aberdeen Elementary school. The school is full of mold, asbestos and sits very close to the Superfund sites as well. If this school construction is halted, the kids should not be going back to the existing schools because they are not safe either.
Was this information ever made public? If so, where? Can you post a link to an article or anything? Could they have done the same thing with the Aberdeen school that they are doing with Pinehurst elementary? I mean I’m sure there is an excuse but I would love to hear it.
https://www.thepilot.com/news/county-commissioners-tackle-wide-range-of-school-issues/article_cdf394bc-2fc0-11e7-89e7-d3a6057f6c0c.html
Also, if you take a look at the Superfund location maps you can easily see where they are close to the existing Aberdeen elementary. Fortunately, I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick there.
For the record, this is not the Lisa Jean that used to be on Facebook. This could be another Lisa J but we suspect her name is being used purposefully and vindictively.
Also, ‘Lisa J’, did you even read the documents? If so you would’ve read that the current mayor of Aberdeen was at one time part of a government study to see if the toxic chemicals had any impact on his health. People in the area have gotten sick. Do your research and stop pretending to be someone you aren’t.
So what you are saying is that you are fine with the kids staying at that school. Got it. Please point me to the health study, give me a link because no I have not seen that. Also, it’s pretty funny that someone with a fake name on here is trying to accuse someone else of the same thing. Hi pot, meet kettle.
We’ve built a 28 million dollar school on land that we’re not sure is safe! Why would anyone build a school near an old pesticide dump? Land at Southern Middle could have been used to build the new elementary school. This project should have been cancelled in 2017 when citizens expressed their concern. Instead, they decided to continue. The decision making abilities of Grimesey, Birath, and the entire BOE should be questioned. What a disaster for Moore County!
They are making a big assumption.; the assumption that the only way for pesticides to get on that property is through the McIver dump. We don’t know for certain that pesticides were not dumped on the actual school property!! Huge Assumption!! The entire property needs to be thoroughly tested by a different company. This matter, why this land was purchased, why other land was not considered, did MCS ignore environmental guidelines, and did they ignore suggestions from their own experts, needs to be investigated. Why were they so committed to this one tract of land that doesn’t even have road frontage? I have a feeling there is a lot more to this story!
You ma’am are exactly right there’s more to this story than we all know .. In My eyes I see land owners/ developers ( some are high rank in our County) that will benefit from this ,their value of their land going up . Maybe that’s one reason. (Money in some’s pockets). At the cost of our kids and staff life’s..
There is a group on Facebook called Moore County for Quality Education or something like that and someone posted yesterday that if these people worked for a company or a business they would have been fired by now for their incompetence. I agree but why is this any different? Why do we have to continue to tolerate their lies and mismanagement of money? They aren’t helping our students or teachers they are just hurting them.
If we are going to go after the superintendent, we have to paint with a broader brush and include the school board. The very people who just gave him an unwarranted extension. The next school board (post-election) should have been who considers his future. This school board is no better than the school board that fired the superintendent. In fact, it might be worse. We need new leadership countywide.
Clark, I agree but I believe extending his contract was absolutely done intentionally because the board knows that they will not be voted back in ever again. They had to make sure that their agenda would still continue even without them. 13 people spoke out against extending his contract and yet those rubber stamps did so anyway. It was at that same meeting that they berated community members for ‘forcing’ them to do a phase 2 study. We listened to a lecture from Bob, Helena Miller and Libby Carter who basically said we were wasting 25k. Newsflash Bob & co., you’re going to be paying a he*l of a lot more if one student or teacher gets sick. There will be lawsuits all over the place. Bunch of arrogant narcissist.
Now for the ignorant people who continue to say this is just about redistricting. Shut up, we are sick of hearing your rhetoric. This initially started off with redistricting but after doing some research so many other things came to light and those things have become far more important to us than redistricting. Furthermore, the ‘we all knew about this in 2015’ is bs. Many of us moved here after the fact. Did you ever consider that? No because your head is too far up the boe! Just admit that bob and the boe have screwed up way too many times. Swallow your pride and stop blindly supporting them because you are a huge part of the problem.
This school board was hampered from day one. They came in office believing that Grimesey could do no wrong. I felt that way at first.
Then – They started to quit being a school board. They turned into a rubber stamp. They blindly followed this man.
When this first came to light I warned the school board – On the radio, “Please – Do not allow yourselves to be part of the cover up”
The school we are talking about is a SMALL part of the overwhelming incompetence that has been allowed to continue.
By the way – I am convinced the former school board was lynched. Lynching implies – unfairly. I was part of that because I was misinformed by the Facebook page administered by the present Board Chair.
We STILL do not know why the former board was forced out. All we know is that they tried to fire Grimesey and we stopped them.
That’s not my picture. The fellow looks better than I.
“We need new leadership countywide”
But was it not Jamie Boles who saved Dr. Bob Grimesey after the School Board fired him? Does needing new leadership countywide include Jamie Boles or does it stop lower?
I would really like to know why Grimesey was fired in 2015!! Did it have anything to do with this?
You and 100 of us. But they got a gag law On it from what I heard!!!
I’m fairly new to this so bear with me. My husband and I live in Legacy Lakes and our son is only 3 so we haven’t followed any of the school stuff. Most of our friends send their kids to The Academy of Moore so that was our plan too. A friend sent several of these documents and I finally sorted through them. I have a few questions. Was redistricting discussed back in 2017 when concerns about the Aberdeen site were brought up? If redistricting had not been introduced at the time than how can anyone say that people do not genuinely care? It seems like a lot of people were concerned before redistricting. My next question is about the addendum that building and earth sent to Mr. Birath after the email exchange. I’m not an environmentalist and I truly know nothing about superfund sites but what additional study was done? I am trying to be open minded here but I do not see anything in the addendum that would indicate additional testing had been done. Did Building and Earth change their minds or did Moore County Schools opt out of doing a more extensive study? I do have some experience in law and if this looks the way I think it does, they are in a huge mess.
Good point, redistricting was not brought up in 2017 and people were concerned back then. As far as the addendum goes, I’m not an expert either but I do not see where any further testing was done. That’s a good question for the Board of Education and John Birath.
I think Academy of Moore is a great choice. Make sure you fill out the application as soon as your son is old enough to attend.
Thank you. I hoped I was wrong but if more testing was done we would see the results. Does anyone know when the phase 2 study results will be ready? Will they be released to the public? Yes we are making sure we get on the Academy of Moore list and hoping they expand. I would not mind sending mine to private but it is too costly here. This seems like a prime area for more charter schools. It would be nice to have more options and avoid this drama all together. I feel sorry for parents who do not have a choice but to send their kids to public schools.
Please include a couple of principals as well that needs to go. After the tragic Parkland High School shooting they allowed the kids to walk out of class to express their desire for gun control, but then at Farmers Day in Robbins the local high school was selling tickets for a 9mm handgun. The Central Office was aware of this. The saddest thing is that a coach tried doing this 5 years ago at the same event and the same principal put a stop to it. The very definition of hypocrite. Who’s in charge these days.
The bob mob idiots think this is all just ok with the results of the phase 2 study. How did so many stupid people get in charge?