This August, North Carolina’s first charter school for children with special needs opened in Raleigh, aiming to improve education for students with intellectual, social and developmental disabilities.
The Dynamic Community Charter School was founded by a group of parents with special needs children who wanted an alternative to public schools. Sixty-nine students between sixth and 10th grade have started at the school, which employs a creative style of learning and teaching to benefit students who might have difficulties in the public school system. Laura Kay Berry, president of the Board of Directors for the school, homeschooled her own son for six years before she and the other parents founded the charter school this past year.
“We’re just thrilled our kids have a safe place to learn now,” Berry said. “In public schools they are marginalized in special ed classes and they fall behind.”
Creative methods
DCCS employs project-based learning and individualized competency goals so the students can work toward their unique strengths and at their own pace. Teachers try to accommodate each child's needs more than the public school system would, Berry said.
“At a charter school we have more flexibility to think out of the box,” said Mike Watkins, principal of DCCS. “Hopefully that style of learning will be seen around the state. My hope is that other schools like us will open up.”
Teachers are flexible with their methods and try to reach students through any mode they can, Watkins said. The school focuses on daily hands-on experiences for its students and fostering a passionate teaching staff. He told the story of how one teacher laid on the floor next to a student because that is how the student wanted to learn for the day.
“This is my 14th year in education, but this year I was so in awe of the staff,” Watkins said about his teachers’ performances so far. “The passion they show for the kids, especially in the first four weeks, it’s truly awe-inspiring.”
The response from the surrounding community has been largely positive, and community involvement has become vital to the running of the school, Watkins said. In July of this year, parents of students raised $109,000 dollars in private donations to DCCS.
The school can now also receive national and local grants, as it recently received nonprofit certification from the state.
“We really believe this school could be a national model for special needs education,” Berry said.
An alternative model
The opening of DCCS fits into a larger nationwide discussion about the viability and practicality of charter schools in general.
Children with exceptionalities have available services with highly trained officials in public schools and their parents should advocate for these services instead of seeking out other school options, said Kristen Stephens, associate professor of the practice of education, in an email Thursday.
“My concern with the emergence of charter schools is that we are creating an increasingly segregated public school system,” Stephens wrote. “I am concerned that grouping these students in a self-contained school limits their educational and social options.”
Berry said that the purpose of charter schools is to present an innovative way of learning. Methods like project-based learning, which DCCS employs, give students the same opportunities and experiences as public school students, and could eventually be incorporated into public special education programs.
“It’s clear that a high percentage of our kids are enjoying school," Watkins said. "They feel more accepted here with students with backgrounds like their own.”
DCCS is looking ahead to open up to 11th and 12th graders soon and to continue growing as a school on a local and national level, but for now, administrators are committed to helping the current classes prosper.
“In two years we’ll have our first graduating class, but I’m not looking that far into the future,” Watkins said. “I’m focusing more on short term goals, because short term successes will breed long term successes. That’ll give students the confidence they need to succeed.”
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