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CMS holding community meetings about proposed boundary changes

By Elsa Gillis
By Elsa Gillis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Ann Clark held two Facebook Live sessions Monday morning to address parents' questions and concerns about the proposed new school boundaries.

Many parents had questions about why certain elementary schools, like Dilworth and Sedgefield and Billingsville and Cotswold, have been paired together.

Sedgfield and Dilworth elementary schools would merge under the proposed plan.

Children would attend Sedgefield for kindergarten through second grade and Dilworth for third, fourth and fifth grade.

Sedgefield Neighborhood Association President Will Johns knows parents of children at Dilworth probably weren't as happy.

Dilworth is a higher-performing school.

“We want them to understand who we are,” Johns said. “We shop at the same Harris Teeter, kids go the same after-school programs.”

Members of the Sedgefield community met Monday night.

“It’s definitely a plus for the neighborhood,” resident Beth Murray said. “Everything about it, is a positive for us.”

Clark said the decision increases socioeconomic diversity and addresses overcrowding.

"Instead of dividing school communities, or changing a boundary, [it's] the opportunity to keep the entire school community together," Clark said.

[CMS community meetings schedule]

At the school board meeting last week, Clark said the transportation department was still working through how it would achieve the proposed changes.

Questions were asked on Monday about how it would work for paired elementary schools splitting grades K through two and three through five.

"We have tasked our transportation team with the assignment with helping us understand what it would look like to have one bus route for students K-2, 3-5," Clark said.

Nearly a week after CMS unveiled its boundary plan, parents have only started to wrap their minds around it.

"Kind of confused why they would take one neighborhood and break it up into two different schools,” Assaf Weinberg said.

Logistical questions arose on Facebook, with Clark responding that the transportation department has started to look at options for those paired schools, and all the other changes countywide.

Another top question was what strategies CMS has in mind to serve low-, middle- and high-performing students together.

"We have been training over 3,500 of our teachers by the end of this school year and many more planned for this summer and end of next school year on how to be more culturally proficient," Clark said. "Additional, specific support would be provided for teachers in all of our paired schools."

Monday kicked off days of meetings where officials will meet with parents face to face.

Jody Pencek hopes CMS includes a clearer picture of the changes.

"All I want is a map to tell me where the new assignments are,” Pencek said.

CMS told Channel 9 that it plans to hold info sessions through May 22, before the board is expected to vote on the student assignment plan.

The district said it will listen to recommendations from parents during the meetings and make changes to the proposal.

If they are approved, the changes wouldn't begin any earlier than the 2018-19 school year.

[READ MORE: The proposed plan impacts 75 of 170 CMS schools]

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