Principal selected for county’s first charter school

Columbus Charter School looking for teachers, staff and 150 K-2 students

By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

With the acquisition of 100 acres for its site and the hiring of its first headmaster, Columbus Charter School (CCS), a year-round school, is on a fast track to opening this summer in Early July.

Steve Smith of Leland, a retired career U.S. Marine, was named by the board of directors of Roger Bacon Academy to helm Columbus County’s first charter school.

Roger Bacon Academy, which operates Brunswick Day School in eastern Brunswick County, owns the land and facilities and will run the new school. Nearly 200 students in the Bolton-Riegelwood area already attend Brunswick’s Charter Day School.

Smith said that CCS will open this summer with 150 students in grades kindergarten, first and possibly second. The school’s site is on J.K. Powell Road off of the Old Lumberton Road just a few hundred yards north of Peacock Road in Northwestern Columbus County.

Roger Bacon Academy purchased the land from several adjoining property owners and will erect temporary modular classrooms until the new, permanent structures are built in the fall.

The modular classrooms, 30-by-72 feet, are similar to those used by Williams Township School after its fire.

Smith visited the site, which is being prepared by John Thompson and Trigon Builders of Whiteville, early Wednesday, accompanied by Brunswick Charter Day School headmaster Mark Cramer.

Cramer said that the State Board of Education has given CCS plenty of time to build the school and put the necessary elements in place for the upcoming school year. When the Leland school was approved, it had only four months to get ready.

Cramer said the final approval for the school will be issued in March.

Smith said that ideally, the school would like to start with four classes of kindergarten students and two classes of first-graders.

He said that applications are being accepted for students in kindergarten through second grade. Depending on the demand, there is the possibility that a second grade will be added this year.

Students from anywhere in the region may apply. If there are more applications than slots – the class size is 25 with one teacher and one assistant per class – a lottery will be held. Students not making the initial cut will be kept on a waiting list in the order their names were drawn.

As spaces become available, students on the waiting list will be offered a chance to attend.

Smith and Cramer said the school is situated to draw from the Columbus, Whiteville and Bladen school systems – specifically the Whiteville, Chadbourn, Clarkton and Bladenboro communities.

The school will grow one grade each year, adding the necessary buildings and infrastructure until it reaches eighth grade.

The Brunswick charter school employees 90.

When CSS adds its eighth grade six or seven years from now it will have as large a staff as the Brunswick facility and upwards of 850 students.

The possibility of adding high school is a long ways off. Cramer said that the both charter schools will “backfill” their infrastructures with cafeterias, libraries and gyms.

Smith, a native of Ohio, spent 26 years in Marines, retiring after one year in Iraq as a Sergeant Major, the highest rank an enlisted soldier can achieve.

Cramer lauded Smith’s military achievements, which included a Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit, the highest peacetime award a soldier can receive.

Smith earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from American Military University.

“When you see a good guy who has just retired from the military you snatch him up,” Cramer said. “You’re getting good people.”

“There are two things you can do to serve your country,” Smith said. “One is in the military. The other is teaching youth.”

Smith said he is looking forward to the challenge of building a new school from scratch.

“We have had such great success with Brunswick Charter Day School,” he said. “We want to emulate that success here.”

Smith’s wife, Lois, is the chief of operations for Roger Bacon Academy. The Smiths reside in Leland.

Applications are available at the Columbus County Library and online at www.charterdayschool.com. Applications can also be filled out via telephone at (910) 655-1214 or (910) 655-1215.

Smith said that any parents who would like to visit the charter school in Leland can call for a tour of the Brunswick facility using the above numbers.

Smith is also accepting applications from potential teaching staff.