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Wayne School of Technical Arts, part of Wayne County Public Schools (WCPS), is the only public school in North Carolina that is located on a military installation, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. They share this in common with only a small number of schools nationwide. Leaders say the school was conceived to provide another option for military-connected and civilian families alike.
All classes in the school are taught at an honors or Advanced Placement (AP) level. They are also the first WCPS program to offer an AP capstone diploma program, meaning that students can take two, year-long research-based courses to receive a special distinction on their diploma. Completing the capstone is a way for students to boost their college applications.
According to the most recent school report card grades, the school has met their academic growth goals and most students score a 19 or above on their ACT.
As of the 2023-24 academic year, WCPS serves 2,266 military-connected students. Although that is only 13% of the students they have enrolled, this is a greater concentration of such students against the entire state, where 6% of them are military-connected as of 2023. Leaders said that the base was built to enhance the relationships between military installations and the communities they are housed in. State military liaison consultant Howard Lattimore said this will happen, “while using all of the viable resources on installations, from personnel to hands on and live experiences. “
After two years of operating, the school is reflecting on what it’s like to operate on a military base.
Ensuring equity
When it opened, Wayne School of Technical Arts had a total of 135 students. The goal is to have 60 students enrolled per grade for a total of 420 students.
Freda Allen, who came on as principal in July 2024, said that she plans ahead to accommodate 420 students. This ranges from determining how many Chromebooks to order to preparing to move grades into a modular unit a building over.
“So my thought process is in thinking about what maximum capacity is going to look like. So when we make decisions, when we throw things out, I am thinking about the 420. I’m not thinking about the 265 that we have today,” Allen said.
The growing population of the school and its place in the community give district leaders different things to consider when it comes to ensuring equitable opportunities for their students, leaders said.
Although WSTA, Wayne School of Engineering, and Wayne Early/Middle College High School are all lottery schools with similar schedules, WSTA is the only one that is not a Cooperative Innovative High School because they admit middle school students.
According to district guidelines, students apply to the lottery with directory level information and indicate their military connection status. Two pools are then created for selection so that half of the seats available will go to military-connected students and the rest for students in non-military families.
Among non-military connected applicants, a certain percentage of students are selected from each high school attendance zone that they live in. Students are notified if they are selected in April, and being an alternate on a waitlist is also an option.
WSTA also hosts lotteries in January and August so that military families that have a permanent change of station have the opportunity to apply, district leaders said.
NC schools & military families
Another thing to consider for enrollment is the base population, Heather Winstead said. Based on what she has seen in her work as the district military liaison, many of the military personnel in the area tend to be young adults with elementary school-age children.
“So when we transition out older kids, sometimes we’re not repopulated with the older kids,” Winstead said.
As the only school counselor, Christa Coates said it is challenging to navigate the needs of all of the grade levels in the same building.
“We have seven grade levels, and what sixth graders need from a school counselor is completely different than what seniors need from a school counselor, and each day brings its own fire to be put out. It is challenging,” Coates said.
Coates also said that they have been impacted by the statewide teacher shortage. One key difference between their school and other buildings is that teachers have to be United States citizens in order to qualify. Meanwhile, North Carolina public schools have increased their number of international visiting faculty by almost 27% between the 2021-2 and 2022-23 academic years, based on the most recent State of the Teaching profession reports.
Electives offered at the school include Chinese, Python programming, Adobe design, visual arts, coding using Minecraft for middle schoolers, health, and physical education. Juniors and seniors also have the opportunity to enroll in classes with Wayne Community College or North Carolina Virtual Public School.
Since they are unable to offer sports, students interested in being athletes have to play on the teams at the closest high school – East Wayne High School.
With WSTA and East Wayne being on different bell schedules, students would previously lose a significant amount of instructional time when they had to be signed out early for games, Allen said. The new solution for students participating in sports is to enroll students in an online class in place of their last class period. However, the school has to manage enrollment numbers in an online class when there is a teacher available in person to teach the course as well, Allen said.
All in all, participation in sports “requires good communication” between the WSTA staff and East Wayne High School, Allen said.
Families have to provide students with their own transportation to sporting events. District leaders said that this is something families would have to consider before applying to WSTA.
When the building is not a school
Before WCPS moved in, the building where WSTA is housed was primarily used as the base’s library and a center for educational resources. Although the building has multipurpose rooms and office spaces, Allen said that it has its limitations.
The principal cited how noise easily traveled from the second floor to the main floor of the building. School assemblies and gym locker rooms are not an option for them.
“When I walked in the building in July, I said – because, again, I’m thinking 420 (students), somebody else was thinking 135 – ‘I don’t have enough space to feed all of my children,’” Allen said.
Anyone that visits WSTA around noon, like EdNC and other district leaders did, can see the lunch room overflow into the hallway in front of the main office. Some students sat to finish their virtual class assignments in the foyer of the second floor. Gym class is held in a cleared classroom.
WCPS is in the process of erecting a modular unit right next door to the school. The structure will hold eight classrooms and an additional lunchroom for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students.
Notes for future projects
For any other districts considering partnering with a military installation to operate a school, Wayne County’s leaders had a few words of advice.
Leaders also suggested having a plan for logistical adjustments, keeping a good relationship between the installation and the school district between leadership changes, and having a plan to accommodate transient students.
The school has partnered with the base for career day-type events before. And Tim Harrell, Wayne County’s District 4 commissioner and assistant superintendent of support services, said that he hopes they can find more opportunities to partner with the military in the future, particularly to expose students to careers available in the military.
“They have more resources here on the base than we have, and really in our community. So is there some way to blend that together?” Harrell said.
