CMS board wrestles with early plans to alter school assignments

CMS board wrestles with early plans to alter school assignments

June 23, 2015
By Jane Wester
jwester@charlotteobserver.com

A discussion about school assignment Tuesday night showed the tensions Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will face as its leaders redesign school boundaries over the coming year.

School board members took no vote on school assignment plans at the meeting, saying they can’t solve CMS’ issues on their own.

“To me, it’s a no-brainer that we’ve got to do something radically different,” board member Tom Tate said.

Tate said he worried that schools are “either doing really well or they’re doing really poorly,” but wasn’t sure how to address the problem. The board is not expected to vote on school assignment until next year.

Other board members echoed Tate’s concern that CMS faces problems beyond the question of school assignment.

“We’ve got to find a different way to educate,” board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart said. “I don’t know what the solution is.”

But cooperation is needed from other community leaders, members said. “We need the city and the county to step up with us and get this done,” Chairwoman Mary McCray said.

Board member Rhonda Lennon agreed, saying the community needs to get involved to help students.

But Lennon, who represents suburban areas in north Mecklenburg, sparred with her colleagues when some said they would be willing to think about eliminating home schools, an idea Lennon found “abhorrent.”

Ellis-Stewart said she would be open to exploring plans that don’t involve a home-school system because right now, she thinks families who aren’t happy with their home school have limited options.

Board member Paul Bailey said he wanted to ensure students’ school options would be within reasonable proximity to their homes, but he wasn’t completely opposed to the idea.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article25379992.html#storylink=cpy

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round....

Get your popcorn and peanuts ready, the show is about to start. Can't wait to see yet another "diversity" plan.

It's amazing how many say Whites are living in the past by trying to keep their Southern heritage alive, but others keep going back and fighting for a failed public education system with the same old "make schools more diverse" mantra.

Again, in CMS, where are the White kids? Who are you going to bus?

CMS is 71% "minority". There are approximately 43,000 White kids in CMS, which leaves about 102,000 "minorities".

In baking, many times recipes call for alternate mixing of dry ingredients with the wet and other times the dry into the wet. So what are we mixing in the CMS plan? Whites into the majority/minority? Sure, move White kids from Ballantyne or Providence to schools around the city center and westside. Let's see how that works out for ya.

School board to again discuss CMS student assignment

By Andrew Dunn
adunn@charlotteobserver.com

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board is scheduled to continue a discussion Tuesday on how to proceed on a new student assignment plan.

School board members are still weighing how sweeping they want the plan to be. At a meeting last month, the board discussed whether the new assignment plan should take steps to make the district’s schools more diverse.

The board expects to be crafting the plan well into 2016.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article25171639.html#storylink=cpy

Good News... Ann Doss Helms Coming To An Observer Education Beat Near You...

Word has it Ann is coming back on the Ed beat in late July.....

CMS taps principals to turn around Garinger, Vance high schools

It's SHARK WEEK on TV!.... which coincides with the annual chumming of the waters at CMS....

(Play theme from JAWS!)

CMS taps principals to turn around Garinger, Vance high schools
By Andrew Dunn
adunn@charlotteobserver.com

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is redeploying two senior administrators as principals of underperforming high schools.

Kelly Gwaltney, who had most recently been chief school performance officer, will become principal of Garinger High in east Charlotte.

Kit Rea, currently a community superintendent, will lead Vance High in the University City area of northeast Charlotte.

Both schools are part of the Beacon Initiative, a fledgling CMS program to boost academic performance at consistently struggling schools. They’re also both part of the federal Title I program, which aids schools with more than 72 percent low-income students. Superintendent Ann Clark announced both appointments at Tuesday’s school board meeting. She described the assignments as “tough.” In a formal announcement, Clark said Gwaltney and Rea have a “strong track record with turnaround schools.”

Both new principals have long and decorated histories as teachers and principals. Both at one time served as principals at Mallard Creek High before moving into administrative roles.

Gwaltney was Gaston County Schools principal of the year in 2006. She came to CMS in 2009 to lead Mallard Creek and was later a zone superintendent and chief human resources officer.
Rea was CMS principal of the year in 2008. She spent most of her CMS career at Vance.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article23617951.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article23617951.html#storylink=cpy

CMS wants to replicate 'LIFT Academy' at West Meck

...more you can't make this stuff up....

They want to house it at the CLOSED WIlson Middle School down the street and are requesting $2.5 MILLION to renovate the building. Why not put it IN West Meck and save the money? This is nothing more than an attempt to open a school back up after it's been closed.

Also, they've had 120 "graduate" from the program at West Charlotte. How many per year and how many years has this been at West Charlotte? 4 as part of Project lift? It costs $675,000 PER YEAR. Even if in ONE YEAR 120 graduate from that program, it's an additional $5,625 per pupil expense of tax dollars.

Way to keep wasting money CMS!

CMS wants to replicate 'LIFT Academy' at West Meck
By Andrew Dunn
adunn@charlotteobserver.com

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools hopes to expand a program that helps students at risk for dropping out to graduate on time by bringing it to another high school.

The district is expected to request about $2.5 million from Mecklenburg County to replicate the LIFT Academy at West Mecklenburg High School.

The academy is a part of West Charlotte High School, and has helped boost the school’s graduation rate from 56 percent two years ago to 78 percent currently. As of next week, about 120 students will have graduated from the program, which allows students to move through their coursework using computer programs in a smaller environment.... MORE:  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article23518258.html

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article23518258.html#storylink=cpy

School kitchen manager fired for giving lunches to hungry students

Well, another sob story about my favorite subject....

School kitchen manager fired for giving lunches to hungry students
CBS NewsJune 2, 2015, 5:12 PM

AURORA, Colo. -- Della Curry is out of work -- and unashamed -- after being fired by a school district in a Denver suburb.

Della Curry says she was fired from her job as kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, after giving school lunches to students who couldn't afford them.

KCNC-TV

A married mother of two, Curry is the former kitchen manager at Dakota Valley Elementary School in Aurora. She lost her job on Friday after giving school lunches to students who didn't have any money.
"I had a first grader in front of me, crying, because she doesn't have enough money for lunch. Yes, I gave her lunch," Curry told CBS Denver station KCNC-TV. ... MORE

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/school-kitchen-manager-fired-for-giving-lunches-to-students-without-money/

New approach leads to drop in CMS suspensions

More garbage from the Social Engineering School District in Mecklenburg County... "personalized discipline"...

New approach leads to drop in CMS suspensions

By Andrew Dunn
adunn@charlotteobserver.com

 

The number of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students who have been suspended is down 14 percent this year, a reflection of the district’s new emphasis on finding alternatives to sending children home to discipline them.

 

The goal is to keep students in the classroom and learning, leaning on numerous studies that show fewer out-of-school suspensions leads to more students graduating on time and better academic achievement. MORE... http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article22631922.html

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article22631922.html#storylink=cpy