Charter school treats students, families to week of special events

Margaret Peterson Haddix, New York Times Bestselling author, visited the school on Friday for a meeting with students. Haddix is ​​best known for two book series for middle school and young adult audiences, Shadow Children and The Missing.

“It is exciting for our students to meet an author whose books they have read,” said David Burleson, director of New Dimensions. “Her books are used in the Battle of the Books competition and are one of the most widely read authors of young adult books.

Several volumes of Haddix were up for sale at the school’s book fair, which ran throughout the week. Burleson said the school’s two annual book fairs are one of the larger ways New Dimensions emphasizes literacy and instills in students a love of reading.

The school also set the first Grandparents’ Day of the school year to fall on the day before Haddix’s visit. Grandparents’ Day is a regular day when the school welcomes grandparents and other special guests to accompany the children to school.

Last week, grandparents and special guests had breakfast with students and accompanied them to the book fair where they could buy books for students or donate books to the school. Grandparents and special guests also visited classrooms and participated in a special photo op.

“This year’s Grandparents’ Day was the biggest and best-attended ever,” Burleson said. “We had around 700 grandparents with us. Our students were excited to show their grandparents their classrooms and school.”

The school has been unable to hold Grandparents’ Day for more than a year due to lockdowns and COVID-19-related restrictions, but was able to resume the tradition last spring. Burleson said it was a relief to be able to reopen the school to grandparents and other family and community members.

“Having the support of grandparents and letting them know how important they are in their grandchildren’s lives is very important to us,” Burleson said.

New Dimensions School is a Kindergarten through eighth grade public charter school in Morganton with an enrollment of more than 500 students. Information about the school can be found at ndschool.org.