Shaw University picked as new Wake schools leadership academy partner

The Wake school board has picked Shaw University to be the new partner for the school system’s leadership academies.

The Wake Young Men’s and Young Women’s leadership academies are without a permanent partner right now following a fallout with Saint Augustine’s University over its accreditation.

The board’s 9-0 vote Tuesday night starts the process to fix that starting in the 2025-26 school year.

The school board still needs to apply to the state for approval of the new partnership.

More than 100 leadership academy students take college classes nearly full-time and can earn associate’s degrees while still in high school.

Board members favored Shaw for meeting more of the preferences parents wanted and things the school system wanted, like allowing Wake teachers to teach classes on campus.

Board members also liked the small size of the university, though they did express concern about the small size of some rooms students will be in.

But those weren’t big enough concerns to keep them from approving Shaw as the new partner.

“Having students be able to go to a small college is not something every student is able to do,” Board Member Lindsay Mahaffey said.

Shaw is also another historically black university — like St. Augustine’s University — and a major one at that, Board Member Monika Johnson-Hostler said. That will provide students with an opportunity they would not have otherwise had.

Until the 2025-26 school year, leadership academy students will attend Wake Technical Community College in northern Raleigh.