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Lake Norman Charter announces ES West campus, lottery draws 1,833 applications in five days
Summary
Lake Norman Charter told its board Nov. 5 that Elementary School West will open next year with capacity for about 375 students; the school’s lottery, which began Nov. 1, drew 1,833 applications in five days and teacher hiring will begin Dec. 15.
Lake Norman Charter told its board Nov. 5 that it will open a new Elementary School West campus next year and that the school lottery, which opened Nov. 1, received 1,833 applications in five days. The board heard details about staffing, scheduling and how the new campus will be integrated with existing programs.
The new ES West will add roughly 375 elementary seats and complete Lake Norman Charter’s K–12 footprint, Principal Melanie Lotza said. “We are so excited to be opening this new school,” Lotza said, adding the campus will bring the school’s programs and culture to a new neighborhood while focusing on inquiry-based learning.
Shanna Stein, delivering the school’s state-of-school report, said the lottery application period opened Nov. 1 with more than 1,800 applications in the first five days and that families can indicate a preference for East, West or no preference during the process. Stein said the school is offering limited sibling-placement options this year because of capacity constraints between two elementary campuses.
School leaders described practical next steps: teacher applications for ES West will open Dec. 15 and the transition team has already hired a front-desk employee and begun interviews for more than 30 staff positions. The presentation included a promotional video produced by the communications and transition teams and highlighted continuity of LNC programs — Leadership in Action, Club Days and joint field trips — that will link the two elementary sites.
Board members were also told the school will use inquiry-based learning at ES West rather than a separate STEM breakout space, integrating science, technology, engineering and math into classroom instruction. Stein and Lotza said the approach is intended to preserve the school’s academic vision while adapting to a smaller elementary campus footprint.
The board was invited to an ES West time-capsule event planned for the March board meeting at the new campus and was told additional hiring and enrollment details will be shared with staff and families in the coming weeks.
