First all girl charter school in NC to open in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– A proposed all-girl charter school could help Wilmington’s student success rate in the near future.

The co-chair of The Leadership Academy for Young Women Judy Girard says an all girl 6th through 12th grade charter school will teach the “whole” girl.

“We’re going to deal with their emotional needs and their physical needs as well as their academic needs,” Girard said.

It is a teaching Girard says Wilmington needs.

“The bottom four or five schools are all in areas of economically deprived young girls,” Girard said.

Girard says some of these girls get stuck in a cycle.

“They don’t have anybody saying to them, ‘You can go to college. Not only can you graduate high school, but you can go to college,'” Girard said.

A cycle New Hanover County School board chair Don Hayes says their schools see often.

“Eighty to 85 percent of the children in a school come from a single parent home by mom who drop out of school, and this repeats itself,” Hayes said.

That is why Hayes, who now serves on the academy’s board of directors, tried to help it open as a public school. The leadership academy, though, decided a charter would be a better route for their model.

“I am in favor of anything that’s going to help meet the needs of these young people,” Hayes said.

Girard says this model will touch those needs in a big way.

“The numbers are phenomenal,” Girard said. “The model works.”

Numbers that these types of schools in other states show a 98 percent high school graduation rate and a 96 percent college acceptance rate.

“We have every reason to believe it will be successful here,”Girard said.

Girard says they still need approval from the state board of education in July. If they get it, the school should open in August of 2016.

A location has not been determined yet, but Girard says maybe downtown.