CMS south Charlotte boundary talks rev back up
CMS south Charlotte boundary talks rev back up
Meetings with parents restart, as CMS officials lay out timeline to make big changes
This article originally appeared in the March 15, 2023, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with original and relevant local news from experienced journalists. Sign up for a free or paid subscription today.
CMS widens scope of south Charlotte boundary changes, with 43 schools possibly affected; decision draws closer
by Cristina Bolling
There are just over nine weeks until Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is expected to decide where thousands of south Charlotte students will attend school in the coming years.
The district is preparing to open a new high school in the fall of 2024 to relieve overcrowding at Ardrey Kell, South Mecklenburg and Myers Park high schools, and potentially a new middle school in the fall of 2025 to relieve overcrowding at Community House, Jay M. Robinson and Rea Farms if voters approve a school bond this November.
The school board had been expected to vote on new high school boundaries in February, but district leaders paused the process in January, saying the addition of a new proposed south Charlotte middle school required more analysis, as they’d need to decide elementary, middle and high school boundaries in tandem to avoid more disruption later.
The redrawing of south Charlotte school boundaries was a matter of huge interest across south Charlotte during the last half of 2022, with crowds of parents packing meetings in school libraries and signing up to speak to the school board to hear about plans and make their voices heard.
It’s been relatively quiet on the boundary front since January, when the district announced it would delay the decision and pause public meetings while it came up with a plan to draw both middle and high school lines.
Now, the pause is over, as school officials are about to embark on a series of community meetings to get feedback on their proposed boundary lines and work toward a May decision.
The potential impact of the changes are vast: CMS officials say that the boundary changes could affect five high schools, 10 middle schools and 28 elementary schools:
Parent Facebook groups devoted to the boundary decisions are coming back to life. A CMS parent work group devoted to the new boundaries restarted meetings on Monday, and the district rolled out a list of virtual and in-person public meetings where families can see proposed maps and give feedback. (Click on this link and go to “community engagement” to see the list of meetings and Zoom links.)
The first pair of community “reset” meetings included a noon Zoom yesterday and an in-person meeting today at 6:30 p.m. at Myers Park High.
Three more meetings will be held between March 27-30 to show the public a draft scenario, which CMS officials said will incorporate feedback they got from the public last year. Another three meetings are scheduled for April 19-21 for the second scenario round.
A public hearing during a CMS school board meeting is scheduled for May 9, with a board vote expected May 23.
The Ledger attended a media briefing (you can watch that here) and a Zoom community meeting Tuesday aimed at explaining how the process will roll out.
Here are five key takeaways we gleaned: