Peter Asciutto spoke during the commission’s public hearing on the 2019-20 budget Monday night and presented figures on the county schools’ academic performance for the 2017-18 school year.

“The argument against consolidating schools is based on the claim that smaller schools perform better than larger ones,” he said.

But he provided performance grades from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction that demonstrate the opposite as the case in Stanly County.
NCDPI figures indicate the county’s smallest high school (Albemarle High), smallest middle school (Albemarle Middle) and the four smallest elementary schools (Endy, Millingport, Norwood and Oakboro STEM) were the lowest-performing schools in the county.

In other action, commissioners:

• Approved tax-exempt financing through Uwharrie Bank for the new East Side Volunteer Fire Station on N.C. Highway 24-27;

• Passed a resolution supporting expansion of federal allocations to county Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils;

• Approved the Aging Funding Plan and a change in the advisory board meeting schedule for Stanly County Senior Services;

• Approved the naming of a newly constructed classroom at the Stanly County Senior Center as the “Tom and Jean Rabe Room;”

• Approved the naming of three new roads: Green Field Road and Rocky Branch Road in the Locust area, and Olympic Lane in Oakboro;

• Approved rezoning of a tract of land on U.S. Highway 52 Business South;

• Tabled action on a text amendment on allowable types of domestic animals;

• Appointed Jim Misenheimer to the Stanly County Nursing Home Advisory Committee;

• Appointed Doshia Swaringen as a delegate to the Stanly County Convention and Visitors Bureau Board; and

• Appointed Danny Poplin and Candice Moffitt to the Centralina Workforce Development Board.