This third-year Asheville public charter school, whose student body is majority Black, has begun to successfully close an achievement gap between white and Black students that has consistently been an issue in Asheville City Schools since it earned a worst-in-the-state designation in 2017.
Representatives from the Asheville-based Campaign for Southern Equality asked board members to slow down approval of policies related to Senate Bill 49 during public comment. They believe the bill contradicts Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination in schools on the basis of gender.
“I work with toddlers, new parents and schools, so people are often too busy to shower you with compliments,” says Šara Stranovsky, director and owner of Bilingual Birdies Asheville. “Focus on the quality and mission of your work and validation will come.”
“I feel no matter what kind of person you are, the most important part is to have the desire to approach new opportunities in life and challenge yourself to keep working while constantly improving,” says Salomé Loomis, director of Spanish Academy of Asheville.
Representatives from the Asheville-based Coalition for Southern Equality, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, asked board members at their Oct. 9 meeting to hold off on changing policies related to the recently passed Parents’ Bill of Rights while legal experts analyze how districts should implement the law.
The report shows that Buncombe County Schools cohort graduation rate is nearly five points higher than the state average.
The metric, drafted by Superintendent Maggie Fehrman, will focus on her progress in three categories: strategic plan development; strategic facilities planning; and leader accountability, transparency, governance and policy.
For the first time since 2015, students at 20 Buncombe Schools exceeded growth expectations during the 2022-23 school year, eight more than last year.
Franklin Keel, Amanda Durst and Tori Parrish discuss their multifaceted professional lives.
Haywood County home-schooler Celeste Riddle has a few reasons to be excited about her decision to take two classes at Pisgah High School this year. For one thing, she’s never attended a public school and is looking forward to experiencing a new learning environment. And she figures she will make some new friends. But mostly, […]
Faculty and students discuss the impact that frequent administrative shifts have on the campus and their expectations for the next chancellor.
Amidst meetings with principals, administrative staff, board members and various ACS stakeholders over her first month on the job, Fehrman developed a three-pronged promise to “help focus and bring people together” in the upcoming school year.
Private schools likely will become more affordable for families of any income next school year at the expense of public schools. The N.C. General Assembly is set to pass what amounts to a veto-proof bill removing the income cap for the private school voucher program. Buncombe County’s two public school districts could be out a […]
House Bill 66, which was passed into law June 7, requires Buncombe County Schools to redraw its electoral districts based on population rather than traditional attendance zones, as they’ve done since 1975.
“They have given us a task that is fundamentally impossible,” said Board member Amanda Simpkins.
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.
