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Sugar Creek Charter School Archives - North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools

Sep 29
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Coalition feature: How a Charlotte charter school defied the odds

By News

Mr. Benson teaching character education. Image courtesy of PBS Charlotte.

We have a new feature article to share, written by Pat Ryan, the Coalition’s public relations consultant. It shares the story of how Sugar Creek Charter School, located in Charlotte, beat the odds with its students.

Below, we include an excerpt from the article. Take a look!

Charlotte, NC – As much as gum on the sidewalk and pencil shavings on the floor, the all-staff email from Mr. Benson signals the kids are back in school: If you have any old ties lying around, please bring them in next week. It doesn’t matter if they’re from the ‘80s.

Kareem Benson, a boisterous and energetic teacher at Sugar Creek Charter School in Charlotte, is in charge of character education. And every year, he teaches his students how to tie a tie.

“No, that instruction isn’t for higher schoolers,” Sugar Creek Superintendent Celeste Sundo said in a recent interview. “He teaches tie-tying to kids in second grade. Then he talks about why people wear ties, what they symbolize. It’s about teaching the unwritten rules. Schools are a middle class institution. But our students typically aren’t from middle class families. So how do we bridge that gap?”

Sugar Creek sits in one of the lowest-income sections of Charlotte, and nearly every student comes from an economically disadvantaged home. Of the 1,750 K-12 students, five are white. (The public elementary school around the corner has eight white students.)

Sugar Creek’s mission is to eradicate generational poverty in the lives of its students through rigorous education. It’s steeped in a decades-long school culture that prizes pragmatic life-skill development and spurns excuses.

Read the full article in this Coalition news release.

May 02
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Q City Metro: ‘The importance of black male teachers’

By News

Sugar Creek Charter School, a Coalition member school, is the subject of a new Q City Metro article addressing the importance of Black male teachers in the classroom. At Sugar Creek, 15% of the teachers are Black men, compared to the national average of 2%.

The article includes comments from some amazing charter leaders and teachers: Coalition founder Richard Vinroot, Sugar Creek Superintendent Cheryl Turner–and teachers Ryan Henderson and Kareem Benson. (If you missed it, you can read our Q&A with Ryan Henderson, the 2023 N.C. Charter School Teacher of the Year, here.)

Ryan Henderson was honored as the 2023 Charter School Teacher of the Year at Sugar Creek Charter School. Photo credit: Ryan Henderson.

We share an excerpt from the article below:

The percentage of Black men who teach in U.S. schools is low. The White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans says Black teachers represent 7% of the teaching workforce, and Black men account for 2% of teachers nationwide. The initiative works to improve educational outcomes for Black Americans of all ages and is part of the U.S. Department of Education. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools says nearly 8% of its teachers self-identify as Black men.

At Sugar Creek Charter, 15% of the teaching staff are Black men.

Henderson, who has been at Sugar Creek Charter for six years, knows he teaches students more than coursework. He strives to serve as a daily example and offer a supportive ear.

“When you have the opportunity to have a strong Black male teacher in the classroom, giving positive reinforcement and knowledge that you can use for the rest of your life, it makes a huge difference in how a child will turn out,” he says.

Read the full article on Q City Metro. Congratulations to Sugar Creek on this well-deserved spotlight!