Selma — Poor communication and not enough leadership made for a bumpy ride last year at the county’s first and only charter school, its supporters say.

But in an interview last week, Dr. LoriAnn Stretch, chairwoman of the board of directors at Neuse Charter School, said the problems that plagued the school’s first year had been fixed. She said the school, which opened its doors a second time two weeks ago, had made some changes that should make this year less rocky.

“Being a new school last year, we always knew it was going to be a challenging first year,” Stretch said. “Our number one problem last year was communication and leadership. We had a change in administration before we opened for the first year and probably didn’t have the strongest person in place.”

“It’s nothing against who we had,” Stretch continued. “But now we have our first pick in place. She’s a very seasoned educator who knows what it takes to run an academically gifted school. It really makes all the difference who you have at the helm. You just can’t put a value on having experience.”

Stretch’s remarks referred to Dr. Patricia Harris, who took the helm at Neuse Charter this year. Harris replaces Dean Olah, who left before the first school year ended to take a job at ITT Technical Institute in Morrisville.

In a phone interview, Harris said she was thrilled with the successes she had already seen. She said Neuse Charter began the school year with 220 students, up from 192 students at the end of last school year. The current figure includes about 15 students in a new sixth-grade class, Harris said.

One of her first acts, Harris said, was to implement an inquiry-based teaching method that essentially “asks students more questions than it provides answers.” She said the “padea” method, based on a Greek methodology developed by Socrates, focuses on strengthening critical and creative thinking skills and instilling values and morals in children.

“It’s something I’ve taken with me to every school I’ve been a part of,” she said.

Also, Neuse Charter has made changes to its curriculum, including adding the study of Chinese to its kindergarten, first, second and sixth grade classes. And Stretch said the school has added a global technology course and a full-time physical education program.

“We have incorporated creative movement and dance into the [physical education] program,” she said. “As with the rest of our curriculum, the program is focusing on different parts of the world, so the kids will get to learn a lot.”

Neuse Charter does face certain challenges. While it has overcome high teacher turnover — eight of the 11 teachers left at the end of the first year — the school still lacks transportation for students, Stretch said. Also, Neuse Charter lacks access to the quantity of resources available in traditional public schools, she said.

“It means that we have to be more creative with what we do have and make it go farther,” Stretch said.

Nevertheless, both Stretch and Harris said the school has an outstanding volunteer base. Last year, volunteers spent a combined 48,000 hours serving students’ needs in various ways, Stretch said. “It’s really all about involving the whole family here,” she said. “After last year, I think it would almost be hard for everyone to be more involved than they already were.”

But that doesn’t mean volunteers aren’t going to try. In just the second week of school, more than 50 volunteers were expected to join students on a school-wide field trip to The Rudy Theater.