STEPHANIE RANGE, CHARLES H. PARKER ACADEMIC CENTER

Stephanie Range and her staff opened the 2024-25 school year in a brand-new building – unfortunately, it wasn’t their own.

Staff had to scramble and rehouse in extra space at the new Bruns Avenue Elementary School building, but they were ready to greet their students on time. Fortunately, repairs at Charles H. Parker were made quickly.

“We didn't know how long we were going to be out,” Range said. “We literally had to pick up, move, open school in one building, then pack up that building, come back and settle in here. We basically opened and closed school twice within a 2½-week period.”

It was one of the biggest challenges Range said she has faced in 13 years as a principal, all at Charles H. Parker (formerly Barringer Academic Center). A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, she joined Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools 27 years ago, teaching history at Olympic High School for 10 years before becoming director of Talent Development, Advanced Studies and AVID. She was recently named the 2024-25 Principal of the Year finalist for Elementary School Performance Area E. This is the third time she has received the finalist honor, which she said was a big surprise.

“It’s really very special, I think more than anything else because it’s my peers and my colleagues who nominated me and who voted for me,” Range said. “They’re in the trenches, they know the work, and I just think that for them to recognize the work that I’m doing when I know they’re doing as much, if not more and better work than I am, is just really huge. I’m confident in what I do in my building, but there are amazing principals in CMS – it’s a very elite group.”

PTA President Erica Miller said Range belongs in that elite group, and she was excited they were able to surprise her with the announcement because, “You can never get anything by her.”

“I think we have a very unique school in that we have so many different programs, and the kids are on so many different levels,” Miller said. “She meets every single kid where they are, and every person that comes in, she knows exactly who they are. You feel like this is your family, and every kid that comes here, you know she’s going to be looking out for them.”

Miller especially appreciates the collaborative environment Range creates so that all students at the school can get to know each other. “They’re not in little silos,” she said. “As a parent, that’s something I love, that my kid is not in just his little bubble, but he’s with everyone.”

Range said she always wanted to be a teacher because she loves kids, and the most important thing to her has always been the relationships with her students. She said her staff is phenomenal, and that she’s been really lucky to find team members who “absolutely, 100% believe the same thing.”

“If anything makes us stand out, it’s that there’s not a kid in this building that we don’t have connections with,” Range said. “I’ve had the privilege of making such strong connections with so many families over the years that we have all the siblings, cousins, all these great ties. I think when all of that comes together, there’s just a feeling in this building that can’t be compared or matched anywhere else.”