This article was originally published by the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools.
Stephanie Lane, a first grade teacher at Lake Norman Charter School (LNC) in Huntersville, is the 2026 North Carolina Charter School Teacher of the Year. In this role, she is also one of nine finalists in the running for the statewide Teacher of the Year honor, which will be announced later this spring.
Lane, who has worked at LNC for nine years, actually began her career in pharmacy retail management. But a strong sense of calling and pull to education fueled a mid-career transition.
Kristen Blair, the Coalition’s communications director, recently caught up with Lane to hear about her professional background, her passion for helping students belong, and her hopes and goals for her role as the Charter School Teacher of the Year.
Coalition: When did you realize you wanted to be a teacher?
Stephanie Lane: I’ve always had education in my blood. I come from a family of educators. My mom was an assistant principal at a public school; my aunts and uncle were educators.
I came to education through a transition in my career. I was in pharmacy retail management, but my bucket wasn’t being filled daily. I felt like I needed to follow where my heart was leading me. So, I tested the waters at an area preschool and taught pre-K there. I came over to Lake Norman Charter as the after-school director, using the management experience I had from my time in retail pharmacy. I was getting my toes wet in education again!
It came alive for me that this was my calling, and it has just evolved from there. I’ve been here for nine years. After starting as the Knights Kids director, I went back to UNC-Charlotte and got my master’s in teaching. I’ve been in the classroom as a licensed teacher for six years.
Coalition: What drew you to Lake Norman Charter and the charter school world?
Lane: Lake Norman Charter was just the right time, the right place, for me to start. I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into or how good it was going to be here. At the time, they were just expanding K-4, and my daughter was entering kindergarten. She and I had been together at the preschool and pre-K, and I thought, “Wow, that would be so cool if I move over with her.”
What I did not realize is that I was getting a gold star community and family. Lake Norman Charter is so special because the culture here is built around family.
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Coalition: What is your ethos of education, and how does the charter model impact your classroom teaching?
Lane: My teaching philosophy is really just that I want to build a classroom community where students feel like they belong and they find joy in learning. Everything I do is for that purpose. It isn’t a cookie cutter plan every day. I have 20 six year olds looking at me, and they all have different feelings and needs.
There’s the social-emotional side of it — meeting their needs and letting them know that this is a safe space for them. But they’re also all in such different places academically. So, that responsive teaching piece is key, specifically in this charter school space. It’s a revolving door of asking every day, what do these children need? It isn’t always the same. It’s taking a look every day at what is going on in the classroom, pulling data from the things we’ve done, and then using that data to shape what I’m going to do tomorrow. I use data a lot, and I am passionate about data, but it isn’t a label. It’s a roadmap: What can I do with that data, and what does that data teach me about these children?
Charters allow us to design our instruction to be responsive — to look at the data, use it to drive our instruction, and be deeply collaborative. The creative side of me has just exploded. To me, charters have that combined public responsibility and professional trust to be innovative and creative in how we teach students.
Coalition: You’ve said before that you work to create an environment of belonging for your students. Why, in your view, is belonging so important, and what does that look like in your classroom?
Lane: My first year of teaching was during COVID, so being innovative was at a whole new level. Those children were not in front of my face, and I was struggling with how to connect with them and meet their needs. We put some special things in place, like buddy lunch dates on Zoom or driving by their homes as a parade. When they came back into the classroom, it was such a sweet moment of, wow, we’re actually all here together. From that point, it was about keeping that culture alive.
I had one student come back from (holiday) break and say, “This feels like home.” That’s what I love the most, and it’s such an amazing thing to hear. That’s what we’re driving for: community and that sense of belonging and joy.
I also realized that I need to belong as a teacher just as much as I need these kids to feel like they belong in my classroom. That was the big epiphany that defined who I was as a teacher. So, I am an avid supporter of mentoring relationships. I love that they often become co-mentoring relationships, benefiting both the mentor and the mentee. I have flourished with the relationships I have with educators in my building. We’re better together, and we’ve created some great systems here. Everything is about helping each other for the sole purpose of meeting students’ needs.
Coalition: Why is first grade so critical across a student’s arc of learning?
Lane: First grade is amazing. I love that students have a year under their belt when they come to first grade. They understand what school is, and how to survive the day. We can hit the ground running when they step into the classroom in August.
Students go from sounding out CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words to then reading beginning chapter books. They go from struggling to write one sentence to writing paragraphs about polar bears and bats and all the fun things.
It’s exciting for me to see students’ love for learning blossom at this grade level. I think it’s so important that we grab them in this season and make learning fun. I always tell the students in my class, “Together we make learning fun.” It isn’t just them; it isn’t just me. We have to all be in it together.
They come to school in first grade, and they’re ready to learn, and they love it. Hopefully that builds those relationships and ideas around learning that they carry with them as they continue to grow.
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Coalition: In December you learned you had been named North Carolina’s 2026 Charter School Teacher of the Year as well as a regional finalist for the statewide Teacher of the Year honor. What was that experience like?
Lane: It was very overwhelming. You look at the people around you, and you think, why me? It could have been any person I work with.
It’s an honor and it’s very humbling — but it’s also weighty. It isn’t just a title; it’s a responsibility to represent educators. That’s exciting but overwhelming — at this point, at least.
Coalition: What do you hope to accomplish as you represent the state’s charter schools and students this year?
Lane: I’m really excited to be a part of that cohort of regional teachers and work with another team. I’ve heard some amazing things about what we’ll be able to do. We’ve talked about my love of collaboration, so the idea of collaborating with another team of people for the greater good of education is exciting to me.
In addition, it’s awesome to know that I’m representing the North Carolina charter teachers in this way.
I grew up in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, so I am also eager to see the wonderful things happening in the public school system. That collaboration piece of seeing what’s happening and working together makes us all better.
Coalition: What is your favorite charter school moment?
Lane: That’s a tough one! How do you narrow it down to one thing?
Words of affirmation are my love language, so just seeing the support and the love this past month has been completely overwhelming and amazing. It’s something I’m trying to soak in.
The best moments are really just the everyday moments. It’s the notes that the kids write. It’s the hugs every morning. It’s the student saying, “This feels like home.” Lake Norman Charter truly is a family. It’s special, and it’s something you can’t find everywhere — but I really wish you could. Everybody deserves a school like this.
Coalition: Is there anything I didn’t ask that you believe is an important part of this conversation?
Lane: I appreciate you asking that question! I just want to take this seriously. This (role) is a responsibility to be a voice for teachers. I hope I do it well. It’s going to be a journey. But I am completely humbled, and I’m excited to see the amazing things that can come from it.
Read the Jan. 27 press release from the Department of Public Instruction announcing Teacher of the Year finalists. Learn more about Lane from the Charlotte Observer or Lake Norman Publications.
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