Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Proposes Changes To School Boundaries

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Superintendent Ann Clark has proposed the long-awaited student reassignment proposal that would bring changes to 75 of the district’s 138 schools. The proposal, made April 25, include redrawing school boundaries, reopening shuttered facilities and realigning feeder school patterns

The school board used four metrics in deciding the new assignment strategy: proximity of the school to a student’s home, the feeder school pattern, socioeconomic patterns and the ratio of teachers to core classrooms.

“We have worked to create a plan that improves the educational experience of students. Our proposed changes are intended to better align a given attendance boundary with the Board’s goals,” CMS Superintendent Ann Clark said in a statement Wednesday.

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The proposal includes:

• pairing three sets of elementary schools to increase diversity, with one for kindergarten through second grade, and the other for third through fifth grades. Proposed pairs are Dilworth and Sedgefield elementary schools, Billingsville and Cotswold, and Morehead K-8 STEM (which would become an elementary school) and Nathaniel Alexander.

• converting Morehead, Bruns, Westerly Hills and Reid Park into elementary schools
• Adding classroom capacity by reopening Wilson Middle School and turning Villa Heights into an elementary school

In Cornelius and Huntersville areas, proposed changes include:

• Moving some students from J.V. Washam to Cornelius Elementary

• change feeder patterns sending students from Grand Oak Elementary and some o Torrence Creek Elementary to Hough High to Hopewell High

The full CMS proposal on the changes that would take effect in 2018 can be found here.

According to CMS, the new strategy will improve socioeconomic diversity in 21 of the 75 schools that will be affected by the change, and will improve proximity for students at 14 schools. The plan will also increase the number of magnet school seats by 62 percent, bringing the total district number to 4,270 seats for the 2018-2019 school year.

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A public hearing is scheduled May 9 with a vote scheduled May 24.

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