Original Research by School Decision on Coastal Waters Chartered Public School (h)
Coastal Waters Chartered Public School is a charter high school in Exeter, New Hampshire, serving grades nine through twelve. It opened as a Waldorf-inspired public school, with a mission centered on arts, nature, and creativity. The school is very small even by charter standards, with a total enrollment in the teens spread across its four grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a small number of students identifying as Hispanic or multiracial. Roughly a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
The available data is thin, and several major categories are missing entirely. There are no state assessment results, no multi-year academic trends, no graduation rate, and no reported figures for special education or English learner populations. Course access, discipline, staffing, and attendance data are also absent. Without proficiency results or graduation data, there is no way to characterize academic performance from the provided record. A parent considering this school would need to ask the school directly for evidence of student outcomes.
What the data does make clear is that the school's future is in serious doubt. Publicly reported information indicates that the charter district announced its closure in January 2024, less than two years after opening, amid an investigation into alleged fraud and embezzlement by former school officials. Enrollment reportedly declined sharply over that period. The school's lifecycle status in the profile data still reads as open, but the district brief points to a closure announcement, so families should verify the current operational status directly with the New Hampshire Department of Education before making any plans based on this school.
Exeter itself is a historic seacoast town with a lot to offer families who live in the area. The downtown centers on Front Street along the Exeter River, which flows into the tidal Squamscott. Swasey Parkway and Founders Park anchor civic life along the water. Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the country's premier private boarding schools, occupies a large portion of the downtown and shapes the town's identity. Exeter Hospital provides full-service medical care, and major employers include Bauer Hockey, whose global headquarters is in town, and SIG Sauer. The Seacoast School of Technology, a career and technical education center, is also located in Exeter. The Amtrak Downeaster stops here on its route between Portland and Boston, and Exeter is reportedly the busiest New Hampshire station on that line. Route 101 serves the town with multiple exits, and Interstate 95 is a short distance east.
Housing in Exeter sits well above both state and national benchmarks, reflecting the desirability of the seacoast location and the town's amenities. Rents are also elevated relative to national norms. Families drawn to the area should expect a higher-cost housing market, particularly near the historic downtown.
For a parent weighing Coastal Waters specifically, the central issue is viability. The school offered a distinctive Waldorf-inspired public option in a town where the dominant educational institutions are either the large regional SAU16 public schools or the private Phillips Exeter Academy. But with the closure announcement and the circumstances surrounding it, the practical question is whether this school remains an option at all. The academic record in the provided data is a blank page, and the operational record points toward closure. Families interested in the Waldorf approach or in a small public charter setting in the Exeter area may want to look into whether any successor or alternative has emerged, but based on what is here, Coastal Waters cannot be assessed as a functioning academic pathway with any confidence.
See more original research from School Decision →