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GREENSBORO — Guilford County Schools Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green said Wednesday night investigators may look at other schools beyond Northern Guilford High if there’s strong enough evidence that those schools are using ineligible athletes or recruiting.

“There are already other schools that have declared students ineligible,” he told a lively audience of 300 people at Northern’s monthly PTSA meeting. “There are rules that we must follow, that we don’t allow whatever is going on to keep going on. We need to say, 'No, as a community, we’re going to be different. We’re going to hold ourselves to a higher standard.’

“You know (ineligible students and recruiting) goes on all across the country, but we’re not going to let that happen in Guilford County.”

Already, there were signs Wednesday that school system officials appeared to be investigating other programs:

* A week after Page High was cleared by the N.C. Athletic High School Association for using an ineligible player during the 2008 football season, school system officials acknowledged Wednesday they were conducting their own investigation.

Green’s chief of staff, Nora Carr, said school system officials were looking into the allegations of Patricia Hughes, who said her son, Gabe King, is the ineligible student. Hughes said last month school officials knew all along that her son did not live within the school district.

* Sources familiar with the investigation said schools system officials are also looking into whether Northeast Guilford basketball coach Curtis Hunter tried to recruit Northern point guard Michael Neal last month.

Carr declined to comment, but Neal’s mother, Garyette Neal, said Monday she met with Guilford County Athletics Director Leigh Hebbard last week to complain about Hunter’s overtures. Hunter could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But even with two more schools being pulled into the widening probe, it wasn’t enough to detract attention from Northern. Green’s remarks Wednesday night were the strongest yet by a school system that has closely guarded its five-month investigation.

School system officials have said they are investigating eligibility and other unnamed issues at Northern. Sources say those issues include academics and recruiting and the probe is focused on the football, baseball and boys basketball teams. Green said he hopes the investigation will be finished this month.

PTSA President Debbie McGee took one look at the packed crowd and said, “This is the biggest PTA meeting we’ll ever have.”

After Green accepted cookies and a school T-shirt from the Northern boys basketball team, he proceeded to answer questions about that team as well as others teams at Northern.

Audience members were asked to write their questions on a index cards. More than 100 were turned in.

Green called fraudulent transfers “the heart of one of the reasons for this investigation” and indicated officials would re-examine the current system that allows students to move from one school to another seemingly with ease.

But Green quickly added his administration would look into other schools if allegations came up.

One audience member asked if school system officials were looking into complaints made by Northern basketball coach Stan Kowalewski last month in the News & Record that one of his players had been recruited by Dudley, but that nothing came of the complaint.

“It’s not my intent to look into every athletics department at this moment,” Green said. “It’s my intent as information becomes available we will do some work. When I see something in the paper we will investigate.”

Green acknowledged that mistakes have been made in the investigation, but added that any missteps were “well within reason.”

He said school officials may have acted too quickly in banning all nonfaculty from the school last month, but said it was done to keep “certain coaches” from impeding the investigation.

Green said that ban could be lifted next week.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com