Next push for Ballantyne: New middle school?
Next push for Ballantyne: New middle school?
South Charlotte schools are still overcrowded, even with plans for new high school on Johnson Road in Ballantyne area
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Parents pleased with plans for new high school near Ballantyne – now how about a middle school?
Parents in the Ballantyne area say they’re grateful that the county and school board seem headed toward building a new high school that will help alleviate overcrowding. But they also say they’re going to continue to push for a new middle school to help relieve Community House Middle, which has nearly 2,000 students.
“I am grateful that the county put more money together for the school district to help our area,” said Heather McAfee, who serves on school leadership teams at Ardrey Kell High and Community House Middle. “It’s just in dire need.”
The Ledger reported Friday that county commissioners allocated $27.5M for the school district to purchase land for a new high school on Johnston Road north of I-485. It would help relieve overcrowding at the state’s three largest high schools: Myers Park, Ardrey Kell and South Meck. Each has more than 3,200 students.
Growing area: The new high school is not scheduled to be completed until 2024. The area is continuing to grow: The Waverly and Rea Farms area are continuing to expand, there’s a new 16-story apartment tower under construction on Ballantyne Corporate Place, and the city granted approval for the big Ballantyne Reimagined project just this month. It will eventually have nearly 2,400 apartments and townhouses.
“Ballantyne is not going to stop growing,” said Janelle Clemons, who also serves on the Ardrey Kell and Community House SLTs and has a rising seventh-grader and 10th-grader. She said she was happy there was discussion at last week’s county commission meeting about a middle school in Ballantyne, too.
“The middle school right now, there aren’t any plans,” she said. “We are really hoping that the county and the school district can come together and be creative and help with the middle school.”
Community House is at 154% utilization, the highest in the district, according to CMS figures:
CMS challenged to build: At last week’s commissioners meeting, commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, who represents the area, pressed Superintendent Earnest Winston on the need for a new middle school in Ballantyne: “The thing that I hear most in my district, one of the biggest problems, is middle-school overcrowding. … Can you guys bring a project for a middle school to relieve overcrowding? … How can we address this extreme overcrowding situation we have in the middle schools?”
Winston acknowledged that the needs “are real in terms of overcrowding, particularly in the southern part of the county,” and he suggested that “one of the best ways to address that would be in a future bond.”
Rodriguez-McDowell replied: “I don’t want to wait until the next bond. That feels too far away. What I’m hearing from the residents in District 6 is that we can’t wait that long.”
Winston said CMS is assessing its capital needs and might have other options besides bond money.
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