WRAL.com: Moore Charter school, state settle dispute

Raleigh, N.C. — A Moore County charter school and state education officials have settled their dispute over attempts to revoke the school’s charter.

The State Board of Education voted in March against renewing the charter for the Academy of Moore County, which is based in Aberdeen and serves 174 students from four counties in kindergarten through the eighth grade.

The school challenged the board’s move in the Office of Administrative Hearings and in a lawsuit, and Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. ordered in June that the state hold off on its efforts until a full hearing on the dispute could be heard.

Kieran Shanahan, the attorney for the school, asked Morrison on Monday to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be brought up again.

State Department of Public Instruction records show that the Academy of Moore County met state academic growth standards in the 2008-09 school year but failed to meet them in the previous four years.

The school also missed the majority of its Adequate Yearly Progress goals under the federal No Child Left Behind law in 2006-07 and 2007-08, according to DPI records. It met most AYP goals in the two years before that and met all three goals last year.

School officials have said they are working on a corrective action plan to help their disadvantaged students.