New charter school approved for Chatham County. It will have a unique focus.
A job-focused charter school has gotten initial state approval to open in fast-growing Chatham County in 2026.
The N.C. Charter Schools Review Board on Tuesday unanimously approved the application for Granite Charter Academy to open in Pittsboro near the border with Orange County. The vote came after Granite’s leaders pitched how the proposed K-12 school would provide students with a rigorous education focused on career and technical education skills.
“Building trades, culinary arts, nursing and environmental systems and applied technology are some of the professional pathways that Granite shall develop to meet the need in the Silicon Valley of the East,” said Jim Crawford, a member of Granite’s board and a former Chatham County commissioner. “It will provide students with training opportunities without incurring debt or having to travel far from their hometown.”
Granite will now go through the planning process. If everything is in place, the Review Board will give final approval in 2026.
Commitment to a diverse enrollment
Granite would become Chatham County’s fourth charter school. There are more than 200 charter schools open in North Carolina this school year.
Charter schools are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow. But Granite’s leaders said they would strive to have a diverse school enrollment that reflects Chatham County’s population.
Granite plans to offer a selection lottery that will give application priority to economically disadvantaged students. School leaders said they’re also marketing to Chatham’s growing Hispanic population.
The school also plans to offer bus service to students and participate in the federal school lunch program.
“I told them (Granite) is not going to look right when I look up and it’s 80% white people at this school,” said Cheryl Littlejohn, a member of Granite’s board and an education consultant. “I’m that person that’s going to make sure that we carry out what we intended to do.”
Support of business community
The school plans to open in 2026 with 554 K-6 students and add a grade level each year. The plan is to eventually expand to 1,500 elementary, middle school and high school students.
Crawford said Chatham County needs a career technical school.
Granite has been backed by a number of business groups, including the Homebuilders Association of Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties. School leaders said they’ve already gotten financial commitments from some groups.
“I see It as particularly attractive that this is a school that will largely be birthed from a business community that sees a need and is willing to step in and help create the kind of school that can address that need,” said Bartley Danielsen, a Review Board member.
“There are a lot of business people who want to get involved with education and they are very frustrated when they get involved with the typical public school system.”
Success after initial rejection
Granite initially applied in 2022 as a K-8 charter school but was rejected. Granite leaders said they learned from the prior rejection.
“I know they were discouraged, rightfully so, back in late 2022,” said Bruce Friend, chair of the Review Board. “But I think they’ve taken the concerns that we raised then and the questions we had, and I think they are actually stronger now.”
Alex Quigley, a Review Board member, said the prior rejection showed the value of having a high bar for charter schools.
“The people who really want it will come back,” Quigley said. “If there’s any hesitation, we should just step back and say ‘No, you need to wait another year.’”
Quigley also said it’s a plus that Granite plans to be locally run, as opposed to charter schools that are managed by for-profit companies.
“We need strong local boards that come together to create high-performing charters,” Quigley said. “Those are consistently the highest-performing charters in the state still, and I’m happy to see a really strong board that I feel like has done the work.”
