Crossnore Community Charter School

A Safe and Supportive Learning Environment for All Children

Opening August 2025.

The Crossnore Community Charter School will be housed in multiple former school buildings on Crossnore’s Winston-Salem campus located. It will open in August 2025 for students in grades K-4 and will extend to grades K-8 in August 2027. The Crossnore team is dedicated to fostering a nurturing learning environment that embraces both trauma-informed practices and principles of equity. This approach aims to: recognize and support students who may have faced challenging experiences, create a safe and supportive atmosphere for all learners, and promote fairness and equal opportunities for success. By weaving together compassionate understanding with a commitment to fairness, we strive to empower every student to thrive academically, emotionally, and socially.

Some of the ways we plan to support students include:

  • Creating a safe and supportive environment where students feel comfortable and respected. This includes providing a predictable and consistent schedule, as well as clear rules and expectations.
  • Providing social-emotional learning opportunities to help students develop the skills they need to cope with trauma and stress. This includes teaching students about emotions, how to manage their emotions, and how to build positive relationships.
  • Providing individualized support to meet the needs of each student. This may include providing counseling, tutoring, or other specialized services.

Meet the Principal

Rashawn Meekins comes to Crossnore after a long career as an educator, leader, and consultant with Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, where she most recently served as assistant principal at Cook Literacy Model School. Prior to her position at Cook Literacy Model School, Meekins served as a dean of students, a school improvement grant coach, a literacy coach, and a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Coordinator.

Meekins received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Winston-Salem State University, a Master of Teaching degree and special education from Salem College, and a post-master’s degree in school administration from North Carolina A&T State University.

“My vision for the Crossnore Community Charter School in Winston-Salem is that it will be a model school for how education is done differently,” Meekins said. “We will not only focus on academics but also the social-emotional wellbeing of students. Our school will address the needs of the whole child as well as the needs of all scholars based on their individuality.“

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There will be many benefits to attending Crossnore’s trauma-informed school. We will help students:

  • Feel safe and supported, which can lead to improved academic performance and social-emotional well-being.
  • Build positive relationships with peers and teachers, which can lead to improved self-esteem and confidence.
  • Reduce stress, which can lead to improved concentration and focus.
  • Succeed in school which can lead to improved opportunities for the future.

Katheryn Northington is a former educator, a former board member of a tuition-free preschool, a former board chair and current board member of Crossnore Communities for Children, has an MBA in Finance and is a strategy consultant with nonprofits. Katheryn’s skillset positions her well to launch a governing board, establish board committees, build a positive relationship with future school leadership, grow support for the school’s vision and mission, and recruit additional leaders to support the same. Katheryn has served on the School Improvement Team at three of her own children’s schools over time and is familiar with parent engagement from that perspective. Enabling meaningful parent engagement when the school has students whose parents are local will be a priority. Foster family engagement will also be important to the school’s success; children experience family and school in a multitude of forms.

Jeremy Burnett is a former educator, a former board member at Forsyth Country Day School, a current board member at Salem Montessori School, and a current board member at the Marjorie Williams Academy. Jeremy’s connectivity with the Williams Academy Board is of particular relevance as the Crossnore Community Charter School will operate under a model shared by the Williams Academy. Jeremy’s prior board experience included committee work overseeing and hiring the headmaster of a large independent school; as such, Jeremy has experience with performance management for both schools and school leaders. Jeremy’s days as an educator and an extended season as a literacy tutor equip her with experience and perspective regarding curriculum, instruction, and assessment that will support future school leadership as the team engages more deeply in school design.

Chris Gentry has served as the Director of the Family Support Network of Greater Forsyth since 2004.  This program offers a multitude of support services to families who have children with special needs, including onsite hospital/NICU support, parent training and mentoring, support groups, educational advocacy, sibling programs and information and referral services. Chris has over 35 years of experience serving families of young children with a focus on quality early childhood experiences and environments.  She has worked in public and private school settings, as well as with North Carolina’s Smart Start Initiative providing technical assistance and training to child care providers and parents.  Her educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from UNC-Greensboro, Pastoral Care and Hospital Chaplaincy from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and certificates in nonprofit management from Wake Forest and Duke Universities.

Regina Hall is the Executive Director of Boston Thurmond United, and is a seasoned community relations professional with experience in public sector and non-profit organizations. She has a demonstrated ability to build and maintain strong relationships with community and business leaders, key stakeholders, and local, state, and federal agencies. Regina is a proven fundraiser and has secured millions of dollars in grant funding and corporate sponsorships.

Brett Loftis, in his role as CEO of Crossnore Communities for Children, engages regularly with and coordinates services for children served by the Marjorie Williams Academy. Brett’s former work includes child advocacy, where Brett spent most days negotiating with school systems to meet their legal obligations and provide appropriate resources for children. As such, Brett is well familiar with school administration, successful school leadership practices, and particularly the trauma-informed approach that CCC will employ. Brett also oversees the Marjorie Williams Academy, is a parent of current students there, and provides trauma informed care training to schools through the CTRC.

Esharan Monroe-Johnson has a B.A. in Religion from Wake Forest University and a MS in Community Counseling and an M.S. in Couple and Family Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has counseling experience working with children in an outpatient setting and in a day treatment school setting. Esharan has worked in a non-profit organization since 2017 and has over 5 years of non-profit leadership experience. As the Executive Director of Love Literacy in Winston-Salem, Esharan is regularly working to reach, teach, and advocate for struggling readers by training tutors, educators, and parents to use the research-based best practices of a multisensory, structured literacy approach. Esharan looks at literacy as a game changer; literacy skills are key predictors of future educational attainment and economic stability. She believes that all children in our county deserve the opportunity to succeed and her favorite part about working in the community is being a part of an organization that works to positively impact the lives of the most vulnerable children by providing them with the necessary literacy skills to have a successful future.

Interested in learning more about the charter board? Contact Shana Heilbron at sheilbron@crossnore.org.