Charter schools have long been touted by proponents as an innovative and enticing option for parents of children in low-performing schools, but according to numbers recently released by the North Carolina State Board of Education, charters had both a higher percentage of failing schools and a higher percentage of excellent schools.

The future site of Shining Rock Classical Academy at 1023 Dellwood Road isn’t in the town limits of Waynesville, but that hasn’t stopped the Lake Junaluska Assembly from asking town aldermen to annex the parcel so it can receive municipal services.

Shining Rock Classical Academy leaders were hoping students would start classes this year at a new campus on Dellwood Road, but a delay in getting the modular classrooms installed forced them to change the plan. 

While Shining Rock Classical Academy students are already out of class enjoying their summer vacation, school leaders are busy assessing the charter’s first year and already planning for students’ return in August.

Shining Rock Classical Academy is considering legal action against a modular building company for not being able to honor its lease agreement with the charter school.

When we reported that Mountain Discovery Charter School and Swain County commissioners were working together to hopefully build a gymnasium, the symbolism of that relatively small venture almost went unnoticed. 

Mountain Discovery was founded 15 years ago by an independent-thinking and hard-working group of Swain parents who beat the odds and started a school during the era when there was a 100-school cap on charters in North Carolina. Its leaders did not win many friends among Swain’s public school supporters and from county commissioners who provide funding to the school system.

A small group of parents had been working quietly for about three years to get the first charter school established in Haywood County, and they were beginning to think they would make it through the process without experiencing the backlash everyone told them was sure to come.  

“Everyone warned us it’s going to be hard, but we thought everything was going great until August,” said Anna Eason, a Shining Rock Classical Academy board member. “We bragged about our community being so wonderful and accepting, but then it came out with vengeance.”

With the help of Swain County commissioners, Mountain Discovery Charter School is about to begin a capital campaign to build a new gymnasium at the school that can also be utilized by the community at large.

The entire staff was called into the Shining Rock Classical Academy’s board meeting Monday afternoon to hear the news — the charter school has finally secured a location for the next five years.

Operating a new charter school can be a learn-as-you-go process, and the Shining Rock Classical Academy board of directors is already adjusting to the expected growing pains as it moves into its second month of classes.