You’ve been on my radar for quite a while. This fall, when the hurricane decimated your neck of the woods, I shared the story of your amazing community on my blog.

I saw your public school system go beyond what’s detailed in a job description and work tirelessly to ensure children had clothes, food and yes, even Halloween costumes.

I will never forget the thank you notes, emails, and weekend phone calls from school officials as they organized donations for Pender county families.

You may have heard about the new charter school that is fighting to come to your community- TeamCFA: Pender.

They have amazing plans for your community, at least, on paper.

Their application states, “We will strive to never achieve less than a B school according to the NC Report Card. With this goal in mind, maintaining a proficiency level of 70% and meeting or exceeding academic growth annually shall be the bottom line for whole school achievement.”

Coastal Preparatory Academy, also a TeamCFA school, has been opened for nearly two years in next door New Hanover county. For 2017-2018, they earned a D grade and were designated a “low-performing” school.

Not only did they not meet or exceed growth, they were the second lowest elementary school in the state of North Carolina- 9 standard deviations below, according to EVAAS, what is deemed an acceptable score. Growth, as measured in NC, is progress from the beginning to the end of the year. Their growth score of -11.09 indicates that students lost tremendous ground, incredibly unusual for a school who served 5.4% economically disadvantaged children (according to NCDPI Data Report, 2017-2018.)

The application states that Team CFA: Pender will be the public school of choice in the area. North Carolina Director of Team CFA, Greg Sinders, shared, “We are excited about the opportunity to bring high-quality school choice to Pender County.”

As the mother of four children in NC public schools who holds a PhD in Educational Research and Policy Analysis from N.C. State, I say, without hesitation, I believe Pender County Schools are, and shall continue to be, the highest quality choice.