Two Rivers Charter

School completing

four years
By Scott Nicholson

Two Rivers Community School, the first charter school in Watauga County, is finishing up its fourth year with a slow but steady growth in enrollment and plans to build a permanent campus.

The school, located on Archie Carroll Road in Boone, is owned and operated by nonprofit organization, with a board of directors acting as school board. Two Rivers was one of the last of 100 charter schools allowed by the North Carolina General Assembly, though there has been a push for more by advocates who say there should be more choice in public schools.

Principal June Gilch, who has been on duty about a year, said the school is facing the same challenges as other public schools in the state, having to return 5 percent of its allocation this year. Charter schools get no money for facilities and must build them privately, but are entitled to the same local and state per-pupil allocation as the traditional public school system.

Gilch said even though charter schools draw from the same general pool of money, they aren’t in competition with the larger school system or with private schools.

“The families who come here are looking for an alternative to their traditional county school option,” Gilch said. “Some families come from private schools and never went to public schools.”

Currently the school has 150 students, paling in comparison to the more than 4,000 that attend the eight elementary schools and high school in the county. Two Rivers teaches kindergarten through the eighth grade, with one classroom per grade.

Gilch said the upper grades tend to have more vacancies, since many families are reluctant to move students from a school once they have established relationships there. Other students leave to enter the regular public school system and some move away, while home-schooled students sometimes enroll as a transition to high school.

Under the charter, Two Rivers is limited to 10 percent growth per year, with the long-term goal of hosting high school classes. However, Gilch said the school is also limited by its available facilities, with a capital plan underway to build a larger, permanent school on the site.

“Enrollment’s been steady every year, and we get a few more each year,” Gilch said. “We’re in the open-enrollment period right now and have around 30 families looking at the school.”

The school is also limited to a maximum of 260 students and a maximum class size of 20 and one section per grade. With an operational budget ranging between $800,000 and $1 million per year, the school faces the same challenges as any school, whether public or private.

“The budget’s really tight,” Gilch said. “There’s no fluff in our budget We have to trim where we have to. We are told by the state to plan for a 3-to-5-to-7 percent budget cut. We’re committed to keeping staff, since we pretty much have what we need.”

Gilch said the school has little teacher turnover, and those teachers who apply are usually drawn by the school’s focus on expeditionary learning. Under this method, students use real-world projects, often featuring a service component, as the foundation for curricular studies.

“A lot of people are attracted to our affiliation with expeditionary learning, focusing on interactive learning and outdoor education,” Gilch said. “We have a really active physical fitness program that’s focused on teaching lifelong fitness instead of a competitive sports model, and that’s attractive to some people.”

Charter schools take state-mandated end-of-grade tests and are held to the same accountability standards as the larger school systems.

“Our day-to-day learning is based on state standards,” Gilch said. “Our teachers’ lessons and units are planned based on the standards, so that’s really not significantly different. Academically, we’re feeling pretty comfortable.”

Students also participate in activities like crafting and distributing a brochure on North Carolina, or growing vegetables that are prepared for a meal. Parents often work side by side with the students, or take on routine maintenance tasks.

“Part of what you commit to when you bring your child here is volunteerism,” Gilch said. “Parents are expected to give four hours a month to volunteer service–classroom, office work, reading programs, grounds maintenance. Volunteer hours can be performed in a variety of ways. We’re trying to teach our students the value of service as well.”

Gilch said even after four years of operation, some people still don’t understand how charter schools operate or that they are funded and ultimately administrated by the state.

“We always have to explain, during open houses, that we are a public school run by a private organization, held to public standards,” Gilch said. “People sometimes still think we’re a private school, but we have to explain we’re a public school.”

Since the school is state-funded, any North Carolina resident can attend. The school has some students from Avery and Ashe counties, and one from Wilkes, typically having 15 to 20 non-Watauga students enrolled at any given time. The school is centrally located, but parents also have an additional commitment to get their children to school instead of relying solely on buses.

“Our parents are looking for a variety of things, sometimes a smaller environment and the variety of ways material is presented,” Gilch said. “Generally, a lot of people like the affiliation of expeditionary learning. I think they like the idea of ‘learning expeditions’ for in-depth, integrated units of study. Some want to be part of something new and a chance to be part of its growth. I think the school is positioned really well to fulfill its mission and the vision that was articulated in the charter.”

Under the charter, a nine-member board of directors makes school decisions. “We’re really interested in having community members on the board and not just parents of our students,” Gilch said. She’s also confident that students graduating from Two Rivers are well equipped to enter high school.

“One of the concerns is always going from a small school to a large school,” Gilch said. “Our students seem to be faring well, and they have had independence nurtured into them, so they are prepared to do well. They develop good interpersonal school so it arms them well to go into a new situation and not get lost.”

The school is hosting a charette on March 28, which is open to anyone interested in the school. Gilch said parents could learn more about expeditionary learning and the school’s operations.

“I think there’s always room for alternatives,” Gilch said. “I’m not a charter-school zealot but I think there’s always room for choice. We’ve always had private schools, and we’ve always had parochial schools. I think there’s room for everybody. I don’t think it’s a competition.”

For more information on the school, call (828) 264-5411.