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Perspective | Recognizing National Charter Schools Week

by Dave Machado | May 11, 2026

This week, communities across the country celebrate National Charter Schools Week, recognizing the nearly 4 million families nationwide that choose a public charter school education.  Here at home, our state ranks fourth in the nation for charter school enrollment growth,...

Scratch cooking is replacing pre-packaged food at this Raleigh charter school 

by Kristen Blair | May 11, 2026

Pre-packaged food will soon be off the menu at RISE Southeast Raleigh Charter School. The K-8 public charter school, which serves nearly 500 mostly minority, low-income students, is poised to launch a scratch cooking food pilot when the new school...

The connection between food insecurity, mental health, and school meals for all

by Analisa Sorrells Archer | May 11, 2026

Roughly 1 in 5 children in North Carolina face hunger. But what does that statistic mean for the well-being of North Carolina’s students? Josh Wells, community school coordinator at Owen Middle School in Buncombe County Schools, sees the tangible toll...

‘Folk means people’: 100 years on, the John C. Campbell Folk School is still teaching what neighbors helped build

by Deanna Ballard | May 11, 2026

In The Community Room on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus, Jack Smoot is teaching a dulcimer class the history of the dulcimer. The word, he tells them, comes from the old French phrase for sweet song. The instrument...

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The Editor’s Notes

This week from May 10-16, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is celebrating National Charter Schools Week. This year’s theme is Building the Workforce of Tomorrow, and each day career pathways are being highlighted along with the charter schools expanding opportunity in that field. Thank you to all of our charter leaders.

Need to know

• Have a vision for a new charter school that will serve students furthest from opportunity? This grant is open until May 22

  Great Schools North Carolina | May 8, 2026

• The agency Trump wants to close is hiring

  Politico | May 11, 2026

• A crisis team that stays: How a new NC program is keeping kids out of the ER

  NC Health News | May 11, 2026

• Pivots Without Pathways: Career Navigation in a Fragmented Labor Market

  The Project on Workforce | May 11, 2026

• Dr. D’s CPCC: The Durable Leadership of Kandi Deitemeyer

  The Charlotte Optimist | May 10, 2026

• Federal Budget Cuts Threaten Student Success at Rural Minority-Serving Institutions

  TICAS | May 7, 2026

• New law will require Virginia colleges to ask students if they're parents

  VPM | May 11, 2026

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