Fayetteville woman wants to build a new kind of school on Murchison Road
A Fayetteville woman has a vision for a school focused on peace education on Murchison Road.
Latoya Parker, who has a doctorate in educational leadership, has been a social studies teacher, social worker and college adviser throughout her working career. In late 2022, however, she was ready to strike out on her own.
That’s when she started Innergy Educational Consulting Company. Parker works one-on-one with school-aged children locally on peace practices to deal with anger, stress and anxiety.
The Fayetteville native teaches about living at peace with oneself, others and the environment — such principles that can be traced to the earliest teachings of nearly every world religion, and figures like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama, Parker said.
Parker said peace is the foundation of Innergy’s curriculum, which helps children improve their grades and social relationships and strengthen their mental health.
She said that the core of the program is encouraging students to “fill their peace tank” by finding tranquility in activities like music, art and exploring nature. That way, when inevitable conflict, heartbreak, letdown and insecurity strike, kids are less likely to respond in ways that could get them in trouble or have negative life-altering consequences, she said.
For example, she said, a kid might act out in response to a conflict, which could lead to suspension from school, removal from a sports team, and even the loss of a college athletic scholarship. Peace education, she explained, can help kids respond to conflict with patience and nonviolence.
“I got tired of the regular ways of solving these problems," Parker said. "We have too much at stake for it to not be great."
'The stakes are high': Nonprofit on Murchison Road invests in Fayetteville teens
She said she has helped students who were once struggling academically to advance to Cumberland County School’s Academically/Intellectually Gifted program. She said she has helped foster kids find inner peace and shy kids find the confidence to speak up.
While she currently meets with seven children at either local libraries or Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where she is a member, the educator said she has a vision to serve 136 families at a proposed school in the Murchison neighborhood.
Parker said she sees the potential school as an extension of the city’s efforts to revitalize Fayetteville’s historically Black corridor through the Murchison Choice Neighborhood Project.
Previously: Fayetteville has big plans for Murchison Road. Now it's seeking $50 million to make it happen
In addition to peace education, the school would offer tutoring across core subjects, creative arts, workforce development and outdoor activities.
Together with other educators, social workers and counselors, Parker said she believes that the school she can magnify the results that her work at Innergy has already produced.
“We're going to be a model for other communities,” she said.
Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com or on Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Educator wants to build a peace-centered school in Fayetteville
