Catholic middle school to launch single-sex classes
Holy Trinity in south Charlotte plans to separate boys and girls in all core classes starting in 2026; parents split
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School cites ‘different learning styles and developmental needs of middle school girls and boys’; rare in Mecklenburg
Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School on Park Road in the Dilworth/Sedgefield area. (Photo by Google Street View)
by Tony Mecia and Cristina Bolling
Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School, one of Charlotte’s largest private schools, plans to separate boys and girls into single-sex classes to offer “a more tailored educational experience,” the school’s leadership said in a letter to parents on Friday.
The move would make Holy Trinity, which is part of the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools, one of only a small number of schools in North Carolina offering a significant number of classes divided by sex. Holy Trinity is the 10th-largest private school in the Charlotte area, with an enrollment of about 1,000 students, according to the Charlotte Business Journal’s Book of Lists.
In interviews with The Ledger on Friday and Saturday, Holy Trinity parents appear to be split on the issue, which has sometimes sparked debate elsewhere. Backers have said dividing classes by sex can help students learn by acknowledging different learning styles and providing environments with fewer distractions, while opponents have said it undermines gender equality and promotes stereotyping.
At Holy Trinity, boys and girls would be divided for core classes, the school said, but would continue to participate in co-ed electives, extracurricular activities and social events. The school will start phasing in single-sex classes this fall, and they will be fully implemented starting in the fall of 2026, when the school will be renamed “Holy Trinity Catholic Academy.”
The school said on its website that similar changes are “not contemplated” for other local Catholic schools and that Holy Trinity is “uniquely positioned for blended single-sex and co-ed classes because of its size, parental interest and middle schoolers’ stage of development.”
The letter to parents cast the change as part of a larger effort to “reimagine how we prepare students to face today’s challenges — with character, confidence and Catholic values.” Other parts of the $4M plan include adding an unspecified number of classrooms, teachers and administrators.
The letter said: “This new model recognizes the different learning styles and developmental needs of middle school girls and boys. ... When delivered well, single-sex instruction can improve student achievement, instill confidence and better equip students to navigate social pressures.”
Lisa and Stephen Rice, parents of a 6th-grader at Holy Trinity, said they’re excited by the change to single-sex core classes and were considering sending their son to an all-boys school before they read Friday’s announcement.
Stephen Rice said he attended an all-boys boarding school in high school in Asheville and found it to be “an amazing experience” that instilled confidence, discouraged mockery and took into account the physicality of boys.
Lisa Rice, a former teacher, said, “It’s just nice that the school is recognizing that there are stylistic differences in how boys and girls learn … and is working to provide some sort of differentiation. Girls can soar and advance and have room to breathe without worrying about coming off as too masculine or pushy or having to look pretty every single day, and the boys can maybe not have to worry about looking tough … They can just be themselves.”
Other parents, though, said they disagreed with the plan to separate boys and girls in the classroom, though there was some relief the changes won’t take effect immediately. Current 6th-graders will have graduated from middle school when the plan fully takes effect. Parents with concerns said they did not want to be named publicly because they didn’t want to be viewed as criticizing school leadership.
A parent of a 6th-grader said she found the announcement “puzzling” because she said parents weren’t made aware that school leaders were considering the change.
“They seem to have sprung it on parents without any kind of discussion,” she said. “Nobody opted into a single-sex school, and there wasn’t even a forum putting it out there before the decision was made, which feels off.”
Tuition at Holy Trinity is about $9,600 a year for “participating Catholics” and nearly $15,000 a year for non-Catholics.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools tested some single-sex classes in the last couple of decades. District officials told the school board in 2015 that it was considering single-gender schools as a magnet program, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time. There has been no discussion of that topic lately.
In December, a state panel rejected an application to start a charter school in Mecklenburg called the Myrtis Simpson Walker Academy for Boys. It proposed to open in 2025 with 300 K-5 students, but officials worried the all-boys school wouldn’t meet enrollment projections. The same month, officials ordered the closure of the School of the Arts for Boys Academy in Chatham County because of low enrollment.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks