Q&A with CSRB member and state leader Shelly Shope

The former chief education officer (CEO) of Pinnacle Classical Academy in Shelby, NC, Shelly Shope is also a leader in North Carolina’s charter school movement. The North Carolina General Assembly appointed Dr. Shope to the state’s Charter Schools Review Board in 2021. She also serves as vice chair on the executive committee of the Coalition Board of Directors.

 On August 31, Shope retired from her role as Pinnacle’s CEO. What’s next? Kristen Blair, the Coalition’s communications director, connected with Shope just before her official retirement to hear about her plans, her views on the efficacy of the charter model, the current charter landscape in North Carolina, and more.

 We include the full interview below.

Coalition: You’re on the cusp of retirement from your role as Pinnacle’s CEO. What’s next?

Shelly Shope: Not a lot! After retirement, I am going to take some time to recalibrate. As almost everybody knows, my family and home responsibilities have shifted significantly in the last year-and-a-half, with my mother’s passing and my care for my 94-year-old father. He is very spry and spicy! I felt like I wasn’t able to give him the attention that he needs.

So, the catalyst for my retirement is really to be able to spend more time with my family and fulfill my responsibilities.

What drew you to the charter model initially?  

Shope: The charter model offers school leaders flexibility and autonomy. We’re not going rogue, but we’re able to do what we know is best for children educationally without all of the restrictions or box-checking that is part of working in the traditional sector.

I worked in the traditional public school setting for much of my career. I started out as a teacher and then worked as a school administrator, in the district central office, and as a Title I director. Coming to a charter school with that background was eye-opening. I started at Pinnacle in 2016, just a few years after the 2013 founding. My only regret—and I’ve said this a hundred times—is that I didn’t come sooner. At the end of that first year, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! It was the perfect educational setting for doing what’s right for kids.

I began at Pinnacle as the dean of elementary education. I became headmaster in 2019 and led the school through Covid. I also led the school with our first graduating class in 2020, which was the highlight of my career. In 2025, the board of directors named me CEO.

Sixty-eight seniors graduated in Pinnacle’s Class of 2026. Almost one-third were lifers who started kindergarten when the school launched! What was it like to see those students graduate?

Shope: Wow, I felt like those were my actual children walking across the stage! One of the greatest things about a K-12 charter school is that you get to see students progress across the arc of their entire educational career.

Pinnacle has two campuses (K-3 and 4-12), and I worked with the younger kids when I started—at a K-2 campus at that time. Getting those hugs in the morning from them and then later seeing them as 18-year-old seniors who were graduating and going out into the world was overwhelming.

You just think about the relationships you’ve built with students and their families. In addition, knowing how successful they had been in their educational career made me confident they were ready for the next stage, whether that was college, the workforce, or the military. They all made it through—including middle school!—and I’m so proud of them and their families.

Pinnacle has been recognized as the top-ranked high school in Cleveland County. To what do you attribute the school’s success?

Shope: I’d love to brag a little bit! Pinnacle’s elementary school is in the top 9% of schools in the state, and our middle school is in the top 6%. Our high school was ranked in the top 10% in the nation.

All of that represents a huge point of pride for me. But truly, I did not teach one child. I did not do this; our staff and faculty made it possible. Their dedication is incredible. They want to build relationships with students—one on one—as students and as people.

Combining all of that care with a focus on educational readiness is key for us. Pinnacle offers students a good, solid, classical curriculum. We teach them how to think, not what to think. I believe that goes a long way in preparing them and delivering results—ensuring students are educationally sound.

Fundamentally, I attribute our rankings to our teachers and staff. This is the greatest administrative team I’ve ever worked with across 30 years. I also credit our board of directors. They invested a lot of trust in me and allowed me to make the decisions I thought were best for the students and the school. They were not hands-off, but they trusted my leadership, which was invaluable.

Pivoting to your role on the state’s Charter Schools Review Board: What are the key challenges new charter schools face in North Carolina right now?

Shope: I love that role on the Review Board—seeing the schools come in that are hoping to open or are appearing before us for reviews or renewals.

New charter schools really need to focus on finances and performance. I’m a numbers girl. You’ve got to know your budget coming in and then stay financially solvent. We end up with some folks who don’t have that financial experience. Sometimes, that’s a lesson that they learn—and it isn’t always at the forefront of their charter experience.

In addition, given my role running a school, I know how important it is for the school to perform well. Good performance is not the same bar for everyone. It depends on where you’re located—where your students are coming from and how they’re coming to you. But you have to ensure that you’re reaching them where they are and helping them grow. That’s huge.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for existing charter schools?

Shope: Maintaining student enrollment growth is critical. If we don’t have students and families that are interested in us, then we have a problem. We can do great things in a community as a charter school. But we need to make sure that message gets out there and stays out there.

Developing staff is important. I’ve seen a lot of staff members who don’t quite know their potential. It’s our job as school leaders to identify what’s best in our staff and then draw it out.

Charter schools face a lot of challenges. But leaders need to remember, first and foremost, that they run a school. Our job is to educate kids, and we have to do that well. That’s our number one.

As you’ve served in leadership on the Coalition Board, what have you observed about the role of advocacy in charter success and sustainability?  

Shope: The Coalition’s legislative impact is unmatched. Being at the legislature and knowing what’s going on, pushing for what’s good for charter schools, is so important. Our top issue in the charter movement is equitable funding—not for individual charter schools necessarily, but for charter schools as a whole. We are not funded in the same way as our counterparts in the traditional sector.

When I have spoken to legislators and county leaders, I have said, “My 1,250 students who walk in my door every day deserve the same funding as the students who walk in another school. They haven’t done anything wrong or different. My teachers deserve that same funding. But we don’t get it. Finding the ability to do more with less is great, but we shouldn’t have to do it.”

What is your favorite charter school moment?

Shope: There are so many! Right now, one of the best things—as the word has gotten out about my retirement—is that so many former students have reached out to me and said, “Oh no, you can’t leave!” That means we have made some sort of imprint on their lives.

Being a part of that first graduating class and watching that graduation happen was phenomenal. We had worked for that for so long. There’s nothing like it.

We recently opened up our Phase II with our new wing and a phenomenal new gym. We’re a real school with a gym and a mascot inlaid in the floor! Witnessing Pinnacle’s growth from one campus with 300 kids to two campuses with 1,250 students and over 100,000 square feet means a lot.

I also have some reflections about the job. Last year at graduation, a parent whose child had been at Pinnacle since the beginning—and still probably hadn’t said more than three words to me!—said this: “Thank you for loving our children like you do.” When parents drop their child off, we want them to know that child is safe. We will take care of them—emotionally, educationally, and physically, keeping them out of harm’s way. Parents are entrusting us with their greatest gift. That’s a huge responsibility that we do not take lightly. We’re not going to let them down.

This has been the hardest and best job I’ve ever had. I always tried to give everybody what they needed, when they needed it. I think that gets the people you are working with to love and respect you. And they work hard for you. To me, that’s what it’s all about.

I am forever indebted to our board for trusting me and giving me the chance. I told them the night they hired me that I hoped, looking back, they would say it was one of the best decisions. I worked hard every day to make sure that came to fruition.

It has been a great, great ride.

Click here to watch Shope speaking to community leaders about charter school funding in 2022.