Top Charter School Employs Director From Country’s Top Charter School Network
CASHIERS, N.C., March 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Summit Charter School, a tuition-free K-9 public charter school in the Cashiers–Highlands plateau of North Carolina, today reveals the visit of Kurt Pusch as its next director, effective July 1. Pusch will prosper Billy Leonard, who has served Summit as interim director because July 2018.
In making the statement, Edward Cole, board of trustees chair and search committee co-chair, says, “We think about ourselves really fortunate to have someone of Kurt’s acclaimed experience as an administrator and teacher. He has invested the previous 15 years with KIPP, the country’s biggest and highest-regarded network of public charter schools.” Cole continues, “Kurt’s showed capability to lead a school to high-ranking scholastic achievement, boost faculty retention and decline student attrition is quite excellent. He is skilled on the advantages of a charter school, has a passion for outdoor education and aligns well with Summit’s place-based and whole-child approach to learning.”
Most recently, Pusch serves as chief schools officer at Denver-based KIPP Colorado Schools, managing six charter schools serving almost 2,000 trainees from early childhood through twelfth grade with the objective of educating students to establish the knowledge, abilities and character for success in college and life. Prior to his tenure at KIPP, where he also served as primary, scholastic dean and middle school history instructor, Pusch was a Teach For America Corps member, serving as a fourth-grade instructor at Northside Primary School in Norlina, North Carolina. He graduated from The Lovett School in Atlanta, Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and got his Master of Education in Administration and Guidance from National Louis University in Chicago, Illinois. He will get his Executive Master of Company Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in June 2019. He is married to M.C. Pusch and has four children: Briggs (8), Kate (6), McKinley (4) and Henry (2).
“My partner M.C. and I feel deeply privileged by this opportunity for our household to sign up with the Cashiers–Highlands community and to serve Summit Charter School,” says Pusch. “In our time getting to know the personnel, students, families and advocates of Summit, we have felt the worths and sense of community that clearly make the school such a unique location. I appearance forward to joining the team at Summit and doing my very best to serve the school as director over the years ahead.”
Pusch was selected following a highly competitive nationwide search. The seven-member search committee consisted of Lauren Bennett (high school principal and guidance counselor), Ann Betty (board of trustees vice chair), Travis Boswell (board of trustees), Edward Cole (board of trustees chair), Amy Corcell (foundation board), Jim Hendrix (former Summit interim director) and Lisa Lehotsky (school office manager and previous instructor). Ann Betty, search committee co-chair and board of trustees vice chair, states, “Kurt was an enthusiastic and unanimous option. As both a expert and cultural healthy, Kurt is a win-win for the Summit neighborhood.”
Josh Crawford, foundation board chair, describes, “We are all so excited about Kurt, however don’t desire to forget what a tremendous task Billy Leonard has done this year as interim director. We are really grateful for his leadership and unfaltering commitment to the school during a year of major transitions and milestones. Billy will definitely leave a long lasting tradition at the school.”
About Top Charter School
Summit Charter School is a tuition-free K-9 public charter school in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina that engages students in knowing experiences that promote discovery, influence excellence and nurture a positive influence in an ever-changing world. A picturesque mountain campus and modern facilities in the Cashiers–Highlands plateau provide an ideal setting for trainees and teachers to embrace high expectations, construct meaningful relationships and practice the seven virtues of the school’s daily Summit Promise: “Each day in my words and my deeds, I will do my finest to live these seven virtues: Sincerity, Regard, Responsibility, Compassion, Self-control, Perseverance and Providing.”
During the 2018 -19 school year, Summit invited its very first ninth-grade class and will include a high school grade every year until the inaugural high school class finishes in 2022. Following this spring’s opening of the Summit Center, which houses athletic centers, a efficiency area and music and art classrooms, the school will open its brand-new high school building. Learn more about Summit’s transformative place-based education and whole-child approach to learn at summitschool.org.
Press Contact:
Melissa Hudson
(828) 743 -5755 ext. 205
mhudson@summitschool. org
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