New Fayetteville school to have a farm to teach entrepreneurship. How to enroll your child

A new public charter school scheduled to open next fall on the north side of Fayetteville promises to provide smaller class sizes than traditional public schools plus have a chicken, goat and produce farm for the children.

“We want to refocus on academia, because the area where we’re going to be, the — the stats show that educational proficiency is very low,” said Doris Taylor, the founder of the Agape Achievement Academy.

She said the school’s construction is to begin in December or January at 4502 Rosehill Road, next door to Warrenwood Elementary, which is one of Cumberland County’s traditional public schools, and across the street from the Tiffany Pines residential neighborhood.

The school initially will have kindergarten through third grade, Taylor said, and expand to the fourth and fifth grades over the next two years.

The word “agape” in “Agape Achievement Academy is pronounced “ah-gah-peh.” “It’s the Greek name for love,” Taylor said.

Taylor said she spent 54 years in education as a teacher and administrator, including 22 as an assistant principal at Jack Britt High School in Cumberland County.

Here’s more information about Taylor’s plans, about charter schools and how parents can enroll their children.

What is a public charter school and why is the tuition free?

Charter schools are public schools that are operated by nonprofit organizations instead of a local elected board of education. As they are public schools, they receive tax money and are not allowed to charge tuition.

And like traditional public schools, charter schools are required to obey the Constitution regarding the students’ civil rights. For example, a charter school in Brunswick County was successfully sued for requiring female students to wear skirts when some of the girls and their parents preferred to allow the girls wear pants.

One of the purposes of a charter school is to meet the needs of students who have difficulty in public schools.

“Everybody doesn’t do well in the public school,” Taylor said. “I’ve taught and I’ve dealt with kids in our school — Jack Britt — that dropped out because it just wasn’t a fit.”

Charter schools provide an option for parents in those situations who cannot afford to send their children to private schools, Taylor said.

What’s different about Agape? Smaller classes and a farm

“Our school’s going to have smaller classes” than the traditional schools, Taylor said. Ideally, between 17 and 20 students so that the teachers can give more one-on-one time to pupils who need it.

Taylor also plans for Agape Achievement Academy to have a vegetable produce and livestock farm. “We’re going to actually have entrepreneurship,” she said, and have the students sell their farm products.

“We’re going to have a horticulture arm to our sciences, where we’re going to actually do the science of gardening, the science of growing, and the science of reaping and harvesting,” she said.

The farm will have goats and chickens for the production of eggs and goat milk.

Taylor also aims to have a student orchestra to teach children about music.

Uniforms required

The students will be required to wear uniforms at school and at most school-related functions, Agape’s charter school application says.

“This will enhance self-discipline by encouraging students to view their attire as an aspect of their work; eliminate potential self-consciousness and social competition caused by fashion trends, and foster a sense of school identity among the students,” the application says.

In the first year, a donor will help students’ families pay for their uniforms, Taylor said.

How to enroll your children

Enrollment will run Nov. 1 to Dec. 15, Taylor said.

According to the school’s application with the state, it plans to have about 176 students at first when the school is K-3, and grow to 252 students by 2027 when it expands to grade 5.

Parents can sign up their children through Agape Achievement Academy’s website, agapeachieveacademy.com, Taylor said.

Other Cumberland County charter schools

There are two other charter schools in Cumberland County: The Capitol Encore Academy in downtown Fayetteville, and the Alpha Academy on Raeford Road in western Fayetteville.

Cumberland County used to have another charter school, Oma's Inc. Charter School. It operated from 1998 to 2000, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@fayobserver.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Agape charter school in Fayetteville NC to teach entrepreneurship