Firefly Gathering is the largest earth-skills gathering in the country. Held at Deerfields, the 940-acre retreat center in the Pisgah National Forest near Mills River, the annual event transforms a quiet mountain hollow into a self-sufficient village.
The Asheville City Board of Education voted 6-1 to enter into an annual contract for the fiscal year starting July 1 with Chartwells, a subsidiary of Compass Group USA, at a special called meeting June 29.
While military enlistment has long been considered a patriotic and meaningful means of employment and education, national reports indicate that all branches of the military have experienced declining enlistment in recent years.
Some veterans find it difficult to adjust after military service. They might lack skills that lead to civilian jobs, and in some cases, that leads to homelessness. Recognizing those challenges, A-B Tech and the nonprofit Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry partnered to put classrooms right where they’re needed: in two transitional shelters. “To my knowledge, […]
Area educators discuss what they do when students are on break and the importance of regular time away from the classroom.
Residents learn in hard and terrifying ways that bears and dogs don’t mix.
Since 1975, Buncombe has elected one school board member to represent each of the county’s six attendance zones — Enka, Erwin, Owen, North Buncombe, Reynolds and Roberson — and one at-large member. Candidates must live in the district they represent and residents can vote for all school board representatives, who run on a nonpartisan basis, regardless of their address, according to the resolution passed by the board.
When this year’s high school seniors were freshmen, their worlds change suddenly as schools shut down in response to the global pandemic. As graduation day approaches, Xpress sat down with eight local members of the class of ’23 to look back on their experiences of attending four years of school in the era of COVID.
“If I don’t have the resources I need, I can’t do [the kids] justice. It’s impossible. I’ve tried to twist myself and do educational yoga for the last 20 years. And I can only do it so much longer,” says Matthew Leggat, a sixth-grade teacher at Montford North Star Academy.
The $423.6 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2023-24, as presented by County Manager Avril Pinder during the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners meeting May 16, represents a roughly 6.4% increase over the budget adopted last year.
When Phillip Cooper completed a prison sentence in 2010, he spent months applying for jobs that he was told would be available to those with a criminal record. But no one would give him a chance.
Rick Cruz will start as the ACS chief July 1 after leaving his role as deputy superintendent for Houston Independent School District in Texas, where he worked in numerous roles for 15 years, according to a press release from ACS spokesperson Dillon Huffman.
Ray Porter has been a tutor with Literacy Together since 2022. The organization works to meet the literacy and English language needs of people of all ages in Buncombe County.
Last June, Umoja debuted HOPE 4 the Future, a summer camp for children and teens. In its initial season, it served 78 youths.
More than 20 teachers, staff members and parents spoke during the three-plus hour meeting in the Minitorium at 175 Bingham Rd., advocating for higher pay for all school employees in front of a crowd that at one point overflowed into an adjacent room with a live stream of the meeting.
This month, we feature three works from third and fourth grade students at Odyssey School.
Classified staff — school employees without teaching certifications — would get an average increase of 17.4% over 2019 pay, starting July 1, if the plan is fully implemented, said Tina Thorpe, chief financial officer for Buncombe County Schools.
The new coworking space at 45 S. French Broad Ave includes 18 offices, 12 phone booths, 50 flex desks, a communal kitchen area and conference rooms.
Dareck B. Luebbert is a senior at Mars Hill University. He is the co-leader of the university’s Environmental Actions Club and is passionate about bringing awareness about environmental issues through social media.
Joe Kledis is the captain of operations and marketing for Glitch 2.0, SILSA’s robotics team that competed in its first competition at UNC Asheville on March 4-5.
Federal funding that allowed schools to provide free breakfasts and lunches to all students ended last year. Now, area families face rising meal costs and tight subsidy restrictions.
