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Lake Norman Charter restructures high-school counseling, adds staff and dual-enrollment supports
Summary
Board heard a presentation on a reorganization of high-school counseling into 'student services,' adding a counselor and a district 504 coordinator, introducing a dedicated ninth-grade counselor and a CPCC coordinator, and launching real-time data tools to identify and intervene with at-risk students.
Lake Norman Charter on Sept. 3 outlined a reorganization of its high-school counseling department into a proactive "student services" model intended to reduce counselor caseloads and provide earlier interventions for students.
High-school principal Mark Mallick told the board the school added one counselor this year (bringing the high-school counseling team from three to four) and centralized 504 compliance under a district 504 coordinator to remove administrative burden from counselors. "We went from having 3 counselors to, now having 4," Mallick said, and described a new dedicated ninth-grade counselor intended to smooth students' transition into high school.
The presentation emphasized data-driven monitoring. Mallick demonstrated an Infinite Campus-based dashboard that combines attendance, behavior and curriculum indicators into a single 'grad score' to surface early dips. He said weekly grade passback from Schoology into Infinite Campus now makes more current academic data available for counselors, enabling earlier outreach rather than waiting for students or parents to raise problems.
A significant part of the overhaul targets the district's large dual-enrollment program with Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC). Administrators reported roughly 122 juniors and 158 seniors are enrolled at CPCC this fall — about 280 students total — collectively taking 647 CPCC courses. To manage that scale, the district created a dedicated CPCC coordinator role and integrated a registrar/data manager into the student services team so routine record work does not fall to counselors.
Christine Casillas, identified as the CPCC coordinator, described tools she built for students and families: a CPCC hub (deployed as a Schoology course and standalone website), an integrated calendar and a mandatory quarterly progress check that is automatically emailed to parents. "We walk out of Lake Norman Charter with their high school diploma and their associate's degree in essence, if that's what they choose to do," Casillas said, describing pathway and associate-degree planners that let students track credits toward an associate degree.
Casillas told the board two students completed associate degrees last year and that several more students are on pathways that could result in an associate degree if they meet deadlines and requirements. She emphasized stricter deadlines and mandatory parent meetings for CPCC students, saying the district will not allow enrollment in CPCC classes for students who miss the required pre-enrollment steps.
Administrators said the changes are already being communicated to parents via newsletters and direct emails and that counselors will use flex scheduling, evening support and data-driven casework to provide targeted interventions. The presentation closed with the administration asking the board to support continued monitoring and offering to bring further details on rollout and outcomes as the year progresses.
What happens next: administrators will continue parent communications and host mandatory CPCC parent meetings; the board and staff expect to report back on early operational results and student outcomes later in the school year.
