LAURINBURG — The Scotland County Board of Education accepted the Scotland County Ministerial Alliance Drum Major Award for business at the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night.

Former board member and president of the group, the Rev. Darrel “BJ” Gibson, presented the award to board chairman Rick Singletary.

“Every year during our MLK celebration, it is important to us that we recognize those who continue to carry out the life and the legacy and the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King. One of the things that we knew Dr. King stood for was that we saw people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. We asked our community to share nominations for numerous awards and one of those awards was a Drum Major award for business,” Gibson said during the award presentation.

He added that the award is given to a business that promotes diversity in its hiring and promotions. Gibson read from the anonymous nomination, stating, “Many remember when our school system had limited minority leaders but has since become more diverse in their leadership roles. We have a diverse board of education, the executive cabinet is diverse and those who lead our schools exemplify the same diversity…It is imperative for our students to see leaders who look like them.”

Singletary thanked the Scotland County Ministerial Alliance for the honor.

Then, board members were updated on the curriculum gaps in the district and the steps to close them.

The last time the board met, members questioned Jamie Synan, chief academic officer, about the current curriculum and how there isn’t a district-wide standard.

“We have to follow our timeline to select an appropriate curriculum for our teachers, we want to make sure that we have something in place now,” she said. This month Synan said that staff has been selected to get together to develop lesson plans that can be used by all teachers who teach specific content. Synan said that staff and teachers who are experts in subjects will meet on Feb. 1 and 2 to created the needed lesson plans for the upcoming semester. The NC Department of Public Instruction will be assisting with the development of the new lesson plans.

Singletary said this is getting the district on track.

In other business:

— The district has reported 78 positive COVID-19 cases among students and 26 cases among staff members.

— The district received a $75, 000 Sexual Risk Avoidance Education grant, which will fund the development of a curriculum to teach about “avoiding sexual activity by centralizing personal responsibility, self-regulation, goal setting, healthy decision-making, focusing on the future, and preventing youth risk behaviors,” as described by the NCDPI website.

Cheris Hodges can be reached at [email protected].