Rising above the past: Renaissance West STEAM Academy forges a new future

Despite her 29-year tenure with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Demetrus McDaniel would tell you that it was never her aspiration to be an educator.

A career in education didn’t come with money, she said. But her grandmother’s seeing her natural connection with children pushed McDaniel toward it and, in turn, helped her find riches in a new way.

When she stepped in as Renaissance West STEAM Academy’s newest principal last October, the stakes were high. The academy, one of the highest poverty schools in North Carolina, had just received its first ‘C’ ranking in the state report card after years of low performance. Before this, the school spent three consecutive years ranked as an ‘F’ before rising to a ‘D’ in the 2022-2023 school year.

And the former principal, Dwight Thompson, who brought stability to the school — located at the intersection of West Boulevard and Billy Graham Parkway — had just left to take a leadership position in Connecticut. Thompson cultivated a culture of high expectations that has carried on in his absence. As the new leader, McDaniel wanted to give the students opportunity, exposure and experience — a chance to see themselves as more than their long-struggling neighborhood and the lingering perceptions of its past.

“Unfortunately they think you gotta be a rap star. You gotta be a ball player to be rich. I said, ‘No, that’s wealth. I’m rich… I’m rich because I get to be with y’all every day,” she’d say to her students. “That’s what life is really about. I had to learn the hard way, but I learned that life is really about when you sit in your purpose.”

After a shaky first few years, Renaissance West STEAM Academy — the centerpiece to a community initiative aimed at ending intergenerational poverty — has found its stride. For the second year in a row, the school has obtained a ‘C’ score while showing growth from the year before.

It’s no small feat for a school that has also had to overcome challenges in its eight years — loss of funding, high staff turnover and high poverty. And the implications of the school’s growth are bigger than Renaissance West STEAM Academy, community leaders say. It has the potential to bring much needed investment to a long overlooked West Boulevard corridor.

Every day on the announcements and in the school’s hallways, McDaniel said she is constantly reminding students that they are 11 points from moving from a ‘C’ school to a ‘B’. Crossing that line would mean everything, she said.

“It would allow them to see themselves, it would allow them to change their trajectory,” she said. “… It would allow them to see their purpose, because I’m able to see mine now.”

Shaky starts

The K-8 Renaissance West STEAM Academy is more than just a school. It’s the cornerstone of a community effort to revitalize the neighborhood. One of its top priorities is to create a “cradle to career’ education model that supports a child’s development from infancy to adulthood.

Along with the school, the Renaissance West Community Initiative consists of a childcare center, a senior living community and several hundred mixed-use apartments.

But before it was the Renaissance West Community Initiative, the area was home to a public housing development called Boulevard Homes. Opened in 1970, Boulevard Homes offered 300 public housing units just east of Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

In 2007, the Charlotte Housing Authority, now known as Inlivian, identified Boulevard Homes as its most dilapidated and troubled property, according to WFAE’s timeline of the property.

Two years later, the housing authority said the conditions were beyond repair and dragging down the neighborhood. In response, it applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to replace the housing and bring in a school.

When Renaissance West STEAM Academy finally opened in 2017, the school immediately faced challenges. Only a third of kindergarten students arrived with the skills they needed. And at the end of that school year, only 28% of older students passed the state reading exams, WFAE previously reported.

It can be easy to assume that all schools are starting off on equal footing, UNC Charlotte Professor of Urban Education Chance Lewis said. But for many, especially high poverty schools, this isn’t the case. In the 2023-2024 school year, 76% of students at Renaissance West STEAM Academy were considered economically disadvantaged, according to state data.

With economic hardship come life circumstances that can affect a child’s school performance, Lewis said. These things, unlike proficiency or comprehension, can’t be measured in traditional ways. Some children come to school hungry or miss school because they have to help out at home.

“Schools really work hard to try to alleviate those issues as much as they can, so the kid could be in a position for learning, but you (have to) factor in the traumatic pieces of what goes on in a high poverty situation as well,” Lewis said.

Moving up the ranks

When a school like Renaissance West STEAM Academy does move up the ranks despite the challenges and complications that poverty may place on students’ lives, it’s an indication of a concerted effort from both the school and community, Lewis said.

Much of that groundwork was laid by Thompson, the school’s third principal. When he took over in 2021, the majority of his teaching cohort had less than three years of experience and high turnover, WFAE reported. After intensive recruiting, more than 70% of the school’s teachers are now considered experienced, according to the most recent state data.

As a continuation of Thompson’s work, McDaniel has focused on ensuring children have quality teachers and don’t fall behind. She’s introduced small group instruction — a method she saw work at other “turnaround” schools. Struggling students will engage in study sessions with other students and their teachers to help them master the material, she said.

Each student will also have a data notebook that shows them how they scored on previous testing and a plan of execution to improve, she said.

“Kids need to know where they are to know where they’re going,” she said. “It cannot be on just the adults, because we’re not the ones taking the test. We have to make sure that they know exactly what’s expected from them and this is how they’re going to get there.”

The efforts within the schoolhouse have been paired with support from the Renaissance West Community Initiative and other community support. After-school programs align students with their interests and expose them to new experiences. With the help of community partners, students are able to attend college tours or, for example, immerse themselves in fashion programming, McDaniel said.

But despite the school’s growth, there’s a double edged sword — both success and failure come with their own sets of challenges.

Over the past few years, Renaissance West STEAM Academy has lost at least $1 million, the Renaissance West Community Initiative said. The funding loss did not come from traditional CMS or state allocations but the loss of three public grants. Two of the grants — COVID-19 funding and a three-year state Innovative Partnership Grant — expired. Another grant was lost because the school improved in its academic performance.

McDaniel declined to comment on that loss, but in a statement the school district expressed appreciation for community funding support.

“Renaissance West Community Initiative and other community partners have provided important supplemental support over the years, and the level and type of that support can vary. We are grateful for the continued partnership and the positive impact this support brings to our students and staff,” Jourdyn Grandison, a CMS spokesperson, said.

Lewis said often when schools begin to improve, property values increase, giving schools a new revenue source to tap into. Because of this, grants or private funding is allocated to another school that may be struggling and could use the additional support.

“It’s a balancing act that schools have to play with. Success brings on new things that you have to deal with,” Lewis said. “But at the center of it …if we’re making the growth for those particular students. That’s what we ultimately want.”

For the corridor

In a place such as Charlotte where 157 people are moving in each day, highly ranked schools are not only a draw for families trying to find their place in the Queen City. High-achieving schools can become the epicenter of neighborhood transformation, leaders say.

For years, the West Boulevard corridor was seen as a place you’d just pass through, neighborhood activist Rickey Hall said. But a high-performing school could help the corridor spur some of the economic investment groups like the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition, where Hall is the board chair, have been wanting to see for years.

Investment like banks, pharmacies or even a grocery store — an amenity the corridor hasn’t been afforded in three decades.

“It bodes well for initiatives that organizations like the West Boulevard Coalition and others have championed for years,” Hall said of the school’s progress. “We’re starting to see those efforts bear fruit that will improve quality of life, improve access, improve living conditions, and serve as a model for how children who come from a lower economic status are actually given the opportunities to learn, grow and be successful.”

Taking the school from a ‘C’ to a ‘B’ would allow the students to walk the halls with pride and to know despite where they come from, what they’ve gone through or what has been said about their community, they were a part of a change that had deep waves in their neighborhood.

“Imagine when we can stand before the Board of Education and Dr. (Crystal) Hill and say the Renaissance West STEAM Academy is a B School,” McDaniel said. “… It changes the narrative. Which then will give people a different perspective on who my babies are, who my families are, who this community is.”