CMS board discusses district goals, student equity at retreat

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Saturday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School officials at a retreat in uptown Charlotte discussed how to make sure every student is getting the same opportunities.

With more than 146,000 students in 170 schools throughout the district, the task appears overwhelming.

CMS leaders said they are trying to find the balance between what students need and what they get.

On the final day of the board's two-day retreat, leaders centered discussions around equity, which started with posters hung all over the room, listing factors, including race, age and family background.

“We have to examine the role we play in that,” Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said. “It's not easy work, and in some ways, the work itself can be divisive because when you try to design some solutions, people say, ‘Wait, that doesn't benefit my child.’”

Board members listed specific examples showing how they have tried to achieve equity within Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, and at the top was the student assignment.

“Do we still have schools that are racially isolated? Do we still have schools that are predominately students living in poverty?” asked board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart.

Together, board members worked to be more specific with how they define equity.

“And we're almost there,” said board member Elyse Dashew said. “We started to draft a statement of what equity means.”

“I really believe language is important, and when you define the work that you're doing and when you’re in concert about that, you can be more effective,” Stewart said.

Coming out of the retreat, a board member told Channel 9 she wants to see the definition of equity printed out on cards so they can carry it with them and hand them out as a way to remind them of their focus.

Channel 9 asked Wilcox about the class-size mandate.

On Friday, the North Carolina Senate approved changed to the controversial legislation.

The mandate limits the number of students in each classroom from kindergarten through third grade.

Districts, including CMS, say the mandate could force them to cut teachers in other areas, such as music and art.

The Senate passed a bill that allocates money to keep those teachers.

“I think most people realize it would have cost us millions of dollars, but would have been beyond challenging in terms of what we're capable of doing,” Wilcox said.

The revised legislation still has to pass in the House.

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