Huntersville Charter School Forced To Go Virtual For Start Of School Year

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. –Students of Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy spent their first day of school on Wednesday, remote.

“When we told her she was like oh, I don’t get to go to school? No, the building is not ready,” said a parent of a student at the school.

Instead of students, construction workers could be found at the two new buildings on Poplar Tent Church Road in Huntersville.

In early August, the school sent an email to parents saying they encountered unforeseen construction issues. They pushed the start date back from August 21st to September 6th.

Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy sent this statement to WCCB:

“Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy has been working closely with staff and families to keep them well informed at every turn of construction and opening updates. We do not have a certificate of occupancy due to continuing supply chain challenges and pending County approval, which has delayed our in-person opening. Therefore, we can confirm that we will begin school tomorrow via temporary remote learning. We plan to transition to in-person learning as soon as we have our certificate of occupancy, which we anticipate obtaining in the coming days.”

“No, they are not forthcoming with parents. They literally won’t tell us anything until there are people pounding down the door,” said a parent who asked we hide her identity.

It was August 31st when Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy parents got a new email that class would still start in 6 days, it would just have to be virtual.

“They said we are completely ready to go virtual. That is definitely not true,” said the anonymous parent.

It took her child nearly an hour to login to school. She says other parents had similar problems.

The mom we talked to  says she believes in the teacher and the curriculum and hopes her daughter can get back in a real classroom soon.