NEXT at Eagle Ridge: “This school is here to stay”

The principal of Oconee’s first charter school left no doubt this afternoon.  Joe Greenberg says there will definitely be a second year of the NEXT School at Eagle Ridge.  The school occupies the former campus of Tamassee-Salem Middle and High School, in an arrangement with the town of Salem.  “We’re aiming to have about 160-180 students along the order of what we’ve had this year,” Greenberg says.  Today looked like a routine day of classes at the school, and we got a chance to talk with Greenberg, as well as student Jessica Fretwell and Bart McCartin, who came out of retirement in the Cliffs home development to work as a chef in the school’s cafeteria and its “Friday Night Café.”  Fretwell started the school year at NEXT, transferred to Walhalla, left Walhalla to return to NEXT.  We’ll have her unusual story tomorrow, as well as comments by chef McCartin and more from Principal Greenberg.