public charter schools Archives - North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools

Asa Fleming, Dr. Robert Taylor, and Tom Hanley. Kristen Blair/EdNC.

EdNC has published a new feature story highlighting the innovative work of Central Wake High School in Raleigh. The alternative high school, which operates as a public charter school, focuses on dropout prevention and recovery. Central Wake partners with the school management company Accelerated Learning Solutions (now known as Second Mile Education).

The Coalition’s communications director, Kristen Blair, wrote the story following a school tour with Dr. Robert Taylor, the superintendent of Wake County Public Schools. During his visit, Taylor met with school leaders (school founder and board president Asa Fleming and executive principal Tom Hanley) along with two Central Wake students.

Here’s an excerpt below from the article:

When Tzara Albiter Acosta, 18, first arrived at Central Wake High School in Raleigh, her self-confidence was at a low ebb. “I thought, ‘This is just going to be another school,’” she said of the public charter school, which specializes in dropout prevention and recovery.

She, like other students at Central Wake, had tried a number of different educational experiences.

Middle school was fraught academically. “I failed so many classes,” said Albiter Acosta, who has Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Resignation had set in. “This is going to be the same thing,” she said.

Still, a realization had emerged about her earlier school experiences. “I wasn’t getting the things I needed,” she said.

Devon Wells, a 17-year-old Central Wake student who also has ADHD, had trouble completing assignments in different school settings. “The resources weren’t really there,” Wells said.

“They’ve tried everything,” said Tom Hanley, Central Wake’s executive principal, of the at-risk students who enroll at his school. Students’ lack of success across multiple school settings “feels like something,” he added. “That goes to their sense of pride and their sense of self-worth.”

At Central Wake, students receive wraparound supports and self-paced learning. Three descriptive pillars — flexible, personalized, supportive — buttress the school’s model. Everything coalesces in pursuit of this singular objective: high school graduation.

“The main goal is to get across the stage,” said Hanley.

Now the school’s approach is attracting attention from other education leaders.

Read the full article on EdNC.

Central Wake High School is a Coalition member school.