A new project-based charter school is coming to New Bern

NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) - Riverside Leadership Academy is set to open in August of 2024 with a mission to develop confident, community focused, and future ready leaders.

Riverside Leadership Academy is a tuition-free public charter school and will open to grades kindergarten through 7th, as well as build a grade each year until it serves students from kindergarten until graduation.

In order to serve students well, Damien Perez, Riverside Leadership Academy Oncoming Executive Director, says the academy will have small class sizes with an average teacher to student ratio of 1 to 20 and teacher assistants in K through 3rd grades.

Though the school building has not been built yet, the academy will be located at 1955 Old Airport Road in New Bern and will also offer transportation.

Perez says the charter school will be project based which essentially means more hands on learning.

“Project based leadership commission which means we’re going to be focusing on a project-based curriculum where we’re doing collaborative work with the students, doing group work. We also do authenticity which really means that what they’re going to be doing is really going to pertain to what’s going on in the world today so we really want them to tackle real life situations in that safe environment of school,” he told WITN.

Open enrollment for grades k through 7th begins on December 1st and closes on February 28th, 2024.

The school will accept 60 students per grade level. If more than the 60 students per grade apply, a lottery will be held to determine which students are invited to enroll.

The date and location of the lottery will be announced by January 15th, 2024.

Perez says that RLA will provide another option of great education for parents and their children. “It’s just providing an option. Check out our curriculum and look at what we have to offer. We have the data to show that this kind of system works. We’ve done project based learning, we’ve done the leadership and character development, we see the excitement and results it brings and so that’s something we want to bring to the community.”

If you’d like to provide feedback, enroll, or find out more information on Riverside Leadership Academy, visit their website.

Copyright 2023 WITN. All rights reserved.