Murphy – Cherokee County is getting one more high school to the four already serving local students.
Starting in August, The Learning Center charter school will be offering a career-focused high school program. Eighth-grade students who are interested can start signing up Monday.
The school’s board of directors approved on Feb. 9 a plan to expand the school with a new grade level each year. Head of School Ryan Bender said the plan, which has state approval, still falls under the original charter agreement as they are expanding by grade yearly.
The new high school will offer three aspects – a small high school setting, individualized career-focused education and outdoor learning opportunities. While the idea to expand has been floating around for a while and was a dream of founder Mary Jo Dyre, Bender said the remote learning experience helped make the idea a reality.
“This opportunity has really opened itself this year,” Bender said. “It’s amazing just to see our program grow.”
Bender said the school would continue to encourage its primary school students to attend Tri-County Early College or the public high school they are assigned to.
“The big piece is we support 100 percent school choice,” Bender said. “We put the choices out there.”
However, as he knows from being an eighth-grade teacher and talking with students, those choices previously available don’t fit every student.
Bender said some students have shown concern about going to a bigger school for high school. The Learning Center caps each grade at 24 students, and will continue to have that cap for the high school level.
He added that staff will find out what each student’s interests are, individualize their educational experience and provide them with excursions to local businesses to get experience.
“By the time they graduate with us, they’ll be ready to go into the workforce,” Bender said.
The format for the program will be hybrid, with both remote learning and in-person learning. It will include some learning in the school’s outdoor classroom or even on a hike.
Bender said the remote learning aspect allows for creative classroom hubs that can be anywhere students can gather in the community – not just on the school grounds.
The program will start small, with a staff of two people who will be recruited soon. The program is being called TLC High School, but Bender said it may get a more creative name before classes begin in August. The first class will graduate in spring 2025.
The high school program is funded through the N.C. Advancing Charter Collaboration & Excellence for Student Success Program. It will be offered to students tuition-free, and will be available for students in Cherokee and other counties.
“The intention is remove barriers to allow students to attend a high-quality charter school,” Bender said.
The charter school will hold virtual informational meetings next week at 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, March 4. The online link and access information for the meetings is available at naturallygrownkids.org/tlc-high-school.
Pre-registration for new students is from March 1 through April 3. Applications are available at the school office and on the school’s website. If the number of applicants is more than the number of spots available, admission will be determined by a lottery.
Cherokee County already has Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy high schools, as well as the Early College, serving grades 9-12. The board of education is considering whether to consolidate the three primary campuses.