CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – CMS has released its final 55-page proposal to create new boundaries within the southern part of the country, directly impacting the feeder pattern for thousands of children’s futures.
The change is to help reduce overcrowding concerns within more than half a dozen high school and middle school campuses, feeding students into a new relief high school and middle school.
These campuses would be complete in the new two years.
CMS parents have spent the past few months sharing concerns over the previous drafts and the impacts it would have on the socioeconomic make-up of the student body at certain campuses, or it would force children to campuses that are further away than the school they currently would feed into.
CMS will hold a public hearing on May 23, with a final vote on June 6.
To see the new proposals, click here.
Shortly after the announcement, the President of the PTA of Elizabeth Lane Elementary released a statement saying they were shocked by the final draft:
“I assume most of you by now have heard something about the latest draft regarding the middle school rezoning. If you haven’t, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they split up ELE: half of our school will remain at SCMS and the other half will be rezoned to Crestdale. They threw a real curveball at us at the end. Never once had they given us any inclination that our school might be split.
I know that some people will be pleased that their kids will remain at SCMS. For the record, my kids will remain at SCMS, but almost all of my son’s friends will be rezoned to Crestdale. I would have much preferred to be rezoned than to be split. I am devastated that he won’t be able to experience what I think are three of the toughest years of school without his good buddies. But, while I wouldn’t mind a change to Crestdale to allow my kid to be with his friends, I don’t think that applies to everyone or even the majority right now.
I’m honestly not sure how to advise you all as we move on to the next vote. This is technically the final draft. BUT, they are still taking feedback and we can still email the board. We also can and should sign up to speak at the CMS board meeting next week. At this point, I just don’t know what to tell everyone to specifically state, other than I can assume we don’t want our kids to be split. I pretty much need all of you to guide me. I don’t know the best course of action. They technically have listened to many of our talking points, I just don’t know how to make this right.
I’m sorry.“
– Stephanie Schoenen, ELE PTA President
A group of concerned South County parents also released a statement regarding the final proposal:
“We commend CMS for their efforts to increase balance in South County schools. The successful rebalancing of Quail Hollow Middle is especially encouraging given the school’s current challenges. Taking proactive steps to address the balance at Quail Hollow will greatly benefit the school and the students.
We also want to express our gratitude to CMS for the progress made at the high school level to improve balance in most schools. However, it is unfortunate that the opportunity to achieve socioeconomic balance across the entire South County was missed in the final draft. The combined low socioeconomic status (SES) of the other four high schools is still within a 10% range of South Meck, which is concerning. Moreover, Audrey Kell (73%), Providence (81%), and the new relief high school (51%) all have high SES populations above 50%, creating an elite group of three schools in the South County.
Continued growth in the area will only exacerbate the divide, while South bears the burden of an increasing low SES population. This situation prevents CMS from effectively utilizing its resources and funds to support schools in other areas of the county. We urge the board to request CMS to decrease the low SES at South Meck aligning it more closely with Draft 2. This will ensure that we have five outstanding high schools in the South County and avoid repeating the same situation we are in today as growth occurs, allowing us to permanently provide additional funding to areas with higher needs.”
