The 2006-07 school year got underway last Friday with what superintendent Ann Hart said was "a great start."

The first day of the 180-day term saw a total student attendance of 7,372 youngsters. On Monday the student population had risen to 7,556. On the last day of school last year – June 8 – Chatham County schools ended the term with a total of 7,410 students.

"By and large," Hart said, "we had a smooth start. I went by several schools and things were going well. We had just a couple of things (to deal with). We had a child get on the wrong bus but it’s straightened out."

Hart said there were several reasons for the significant numbers increase – a total of 184 students – on the second day over the first. "Some of it was high school students who waited until Monday to start," she said. "And another is that we have staggered starts to kindergarten so those numbers will vary."

Northwood High School picked up 15 more students on the second day of class, pushing the enrollment to almost 1,000. At 991, Northwood is Chatham County’s largest school and this year will make use of mobile units to help ease the overcrowding. An upcoming school construction bond, authorized last week by county commissioners, will also in time help with the numbers crunch at Northwood, provided it meets voter approval.

Trudy Walters, an English teacher at SAGE Academy, has been named the 2006-2007 Chatham County Teacher of the Year.

Walters is in her twenty-ninth year as an educator. She has taught at SAGE Academy, the district’s alternative school, since 1997.

SAGE Academy has served students in grades nine through twelve from throughout Chatham County schools who choose the smaller, alternative setting for high school.

Students in eighth grade joined the school population in the spring of 2006. Seventh graders will be a part of the student body this fall.

Before joining the SAGE staff, Walters taught English at Chatham Central High School for many years.

She left Chatham Central for SAGE when it opened because she said she believed strongly in the alternative learning setting and its value for students.

"My education has continued as my students, co-workers, and administrators have taught me, over and over again, the true value of learning," Walters wrote in her Teacher of the Year portfolio..

"Being a part of such a united and intense group of people has enriched my life and made me prouder than I ever realized I could be to call myself ‘teacher,’" the veteran educator observed.

Jeff Davis photo

Former commissioner and commissioner-elect Carl Thompson speaks outside the courthouse in Pittsboro where a small crowd listened to speeches from several opposing the redistricting lines. The board meeting itself was often heated as a vocal crowd expressed opinions both for and against redistricting.

Thanks to the efforts of the Siler City Mural Society and the skills of a Pittsboro painter, the once-plain southern side of the Farmer’s Alliance building, Siler City’s oldest store and co-op, now depicts a world from the past.

In the large mural, which was painted over the past several months and dedicated last week, women walk along the dusty, unpaved street circa 1910, dressed in long, sweeping dresses and bonnets, while a man driving a horse and buggy appears in the foreground of the picture.

Siler City Mural Society president Dennis Sawyer and Society member Tom Andrews dedicated the mural and cut the ribbon.

The mural was dedicated to the late Pem Hobbs, a former Siler City Town Board commissioner who was instrumental in launching the project and was former president of the mural society, and R. Ruth Smith, who was the mural’s benefactor.

"We dedicated the mural to Pem Hobbs and R. Ruth Smith," Sawyer said. "Pem Hobbs brought the community to life when he started the Siler City Mural Society.

"Ruth sponsored the project and helped us with the money for the mural. Both Pem and Ruth died before this project could be finished."

In the lower right hand corner, the mural features a small likeness of Hobbs, his name and the dates of his birth and death.

Smith’s name and dates of her birth and death are featured on a plaque to the right of the painting.

Siler City Town Board commissioner Sam Adams, who serves on the Mural Society, was present at the dedication.

Approximately 500 to 1,000 gallons of raw sewage entered Little Creek in Pittsboro on Monday but town officials quickly fixed the problem and officials say there is no impact on the town’s water supply.

It was the second time in two weeks that Pittsboro had a break in one of its pipes.

The previous break occurred August 21 in a water main on Thompson Street.

Monday’s break was to a sewer line on Salisbury Street.

Pittsboro officials said a 20-foot section of terra cotta pipe that was installed in the 1940s crumbled.

According to John Poteat, public works director of Pittsboro, it is unclear why the pipe broke.