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School assignment with political undertones causes controversy at CMS

By Elsa Gillis
By Elsa Gillis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg School assignment that was sent to Channel 9 is causing a stir.

CMS confirmed the assignment was from Carmel Middle School, but was not approved by the district to be included in the curriculum.

The assignment directs students to mark the ways two people - Kevin and Amos - are alike and different.

It's the description that has some upset.

The school assignment said, "Kevin is an optimist while Amos is pessimistic about life...Amos is conservative in his thinking for he believes government support makes people lazy; in contrast, Kevin holds liberal views believing that government can help people help themselves."

[READ: Student assignment given at Carmel Middle School]

Parents were shocked, especially with the current political climate.

"Skewing something like this politically at such a young age, it's a little disturbing," parent Nicolaus Rummel said. "When stuff like this happens, it only makes it worse, it doesn't really help things out."

"It's making one seem like it's more negative than the other," Ashlei Baker said. "I just feel like it's trying to sway a child's perspective on political views."

CMS officials told Channel 9 they don't know where the teacher got the material, and sent this statement:

"This content was not approved by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for inclusion in the curriculum. The content is inconsistent with the educational goals of the district and has been removed from use."

"This was outside the CMS plan and it was a teacher apparently acting on their own, " CMS board member Paul Bailey said.

He said the district needs to make sure this isn't happening more, adding, "I think it really sends a wrong message to the kids and it sends the wrong message to the community, and that's really not what CMS is all about."

Bailey said he would like to see an investigation and make sure all teachers are following the approved curriculum.

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