The Moore County Board of Education on Monday approved calendars for the traditional and year-round schools for the next two years.

It also marked the final meeting for Blanchie Carter and Jennifer Garner, who decided not to run for re-election this year.

Carter has been on the board since 2002, serving on the appeals, policy and budget committees. She has been involved with the school system for almost 50 years as a student, teacher, principal and school board member. She retired as principal of Southern Primary School.

"I'll always care about what happens to Moore County schools," she said, "and I'll always do whatever I can to promote the good of the school system."

Garner has been on the board since 1998 and served as chairwoman from 2000 to 2001. She also served on the appeals, policy, and budget committees.

"A lot of people ask me how I would summarize my eight years on the school board," Garner said. "The short answer is the good, the bad, and the ugly. ... I continue to hope each and every day that we continue to move from good to great."

Other school officials voiced their gratitude to Carter and Garner for their years of service.

"We appreciate the service not just to the board, but your hearts have been with the boys and girls of Moore County," Superintendent Susan Purser said. "We know you won't disappear -- you're just going to serve in a different way. And we're better for it."

The board also approved traditional and year-round calendars for all schools for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years The calendars have little variation from this year's calendars and follow state regulations for starting and ending times.

Traditional schools will begin Aug. 27 in 2007 and Aug. 25 in 2008. Classes will end June 10 in 2008 and 2009. Year-round schools will begin July 16 in 2007 and July 15 in 2008. They will end June 10 in 2008 and 2009.

These are the official calendars for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

However, pending approval from the N.C. Department of Instruction of a calendar waiver request submitted earlier this fall, the board may have the opportunity to revise the high school calendars to coordinate schedules between high schools and Sandhills Community College.

The board approved several school improvement plans. The principals of Vass-Lakeview Elementary, Robbins Elementary, Southern Pines Primary and Southern Pines Elementary provided updates of their school improvement plans.

The state requires all schools to formulate strategies for improving student achievement. School improvement teams made up by school principals, teachers and parents work out these strategies, which ranged from improving reading skills of students with disabilities at Southern Pines Elementary to focusing on Robbins Elementary's Hispanic, free and reduced lunch and limited English proficient groups.

"Our schools are really spending a good amount of time focusing on the right kinds of things," Purser said.

School Resource Officer Chief Sammy McNeill conducted a presentation of the resource officer program during the meeting. The program places law-enforcement officers in schools to maintain safe learning environments.

The officers, McNeill said, act as law-enforcement officers as well as law-related counselors and teachers.

"It's not only law-enforcement issues we deal with," he said, "but we also reach out and help kids deal with other things."

There is an average of 18 years of experience among the nine officers.

"We're big in training law-enforcement officers in rapid deployment," McNeill said. "We get into a school quick, find the intruder, and deal with it."

In other business:

-- Moore County AP scholars were recognized for their exceptional achievement on their college-level AP exams. Fifty-six students from Pinecrest High, North Moore, and Union Pines had the distinction.

-- Moore County Schools received a clean audit for its annual financial statement for the fiscal year ending June 30.

-- The board approved the budget calendar for 2007-2008, in which the county commissioners would act on the preliminary budget by June 29.

-- The board approved a funding request to county commissioners for Phase I of the facilities master plan.

-- Dr. Larry Upchurch gave an update on the newly-assembled Pinecrest High modular units. All units, he said, should be finished by the middle of next week.

-- Board members Carter, Lorna Clack, Dale Frye, Charles Lambert and Joe Vaughn received recognition from the North Carolina School Boards Association Academy for School Boardsmanship Recognition.

Katherine Evans is an intern from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She can be reached at 693-2480 or by e-mail at kevans@thepilot.com.