Ballantyne, NC – The November 12th breakfast meeting opened with talk of the upcoming dinner zoning meeting for the city council. This zoning meeting is a short meeting. Childress/ Klein constructed a building in the South Park Mall Area in 1953. This building is now being remodeled by the city. Piedmont Town Center [...]]]>

Ballantyne, NC – The November 12th breakfast meeting opened with talk of the upcoming dinner zoning meeting for the city council. This zoning meeting is a short meeting. Childress/ Klein constructed a building in the South Park Mall Area in 1953. This building is now being remodeled by the city. Piedmont Town Center is opposing this remodel. Councilman Andy Dulin is one of the prime city council members helping with this project. There is a zoning change on Holt Street and another on Monroe Road that the city is considering. Another project is the ‘Allen Tate Office’ Building at the corner of state road 51 and Johnston Road. It is projected to soon be a Walgreens but rezoning is needed in order to make it a drug store.

After a few years of design changes, the Greater Galilee Baptist Church now has new plans for a sanctuary and office that seem to meet city standards. In the past there have also been concerns by the neighborhoods near the church as well. The city will also consider a new bicycle parking amendment. The big zoning change is the ‘Urban Street Design Guide’. This guide was started in 2007. This is a set of new subdivision ordinances. Block links are limited. The discussion right now is around how the approval process for this design guide will be structured. How does a developer get approval? There are three choices: Door 1: Strict adherence to the ‘urban street design guide’; Door 2: Staff leads the way on how to adhere to this new street design guide; Door 3: Put in place a new development review board with experts in architecture and public health. Then the developers can appeal to the board if they feel their blueprints are done in the ‘spirit’ of the ordinance.

Which door will the city choose? Susan Burgess used to be on the Transportation Committee for the city. After Council Member Burgess’s death, Nancy Carter is now on the Transportation Committee. Council Member Carter would like to have a neighborhood representative on the Transportation Committee. The rest of the committee did not agree and this will not happen. The upgrade at ‘Quail Corners’ is being deferred until December. In the recent election, the street bonds did pass. One of the projects is an upgrade to the intersection of Ballantyne Commons Parkway and Elm Lane. The city does not have a schedule for this upgrade but will have one. Many are excited to see this project start soon.

Center City Partners is working on a new project at the ‘Reid’s Fine Foods’ location on 7th Street in the uptown. The ‘Food Desert Activists’ were on hand recently when the city discussed this new project. This project is the ‘Center City Green Market’. The ‘Food Desert Activists’ are sure that this project is in the wrong place. They would like to see this project moved to the west side. This is where the majority of the food deserts are located in Charlotte. Mike Smith works with Center City Partners and recently called Councilman Andy Dulin. Councilman Dulin was there when Mr. Smith presented his idea to the city council. The projected cost of the ‘Center City Green Market’ is $1 million. The recent vendor meeting on this project there were only three farmers interested. Many are also skeptical of this idea due to the cost of the project.

The N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame report is scheduled to be given to the city on November 22nd. Larry Huelsman, a member of the C.R.V.A. board, helped with the news from the C.R.V.A. Councilman Michael Barnes recently sent a letter the the city manager concerning the facilities managed by the Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Authority (C.R.V.A.). Councilman Barnes would like a report on the attendance, cash contributions, performance and management structure of each part of the C.R.V.A. Councilman Barnes is most concerned about inappropriate personal conduct of
members of the C.R.V.A. Tim Newman works for the C.R.V.A. There is another member
of the staff working in Washington D.C. As a result of this inappropriate behavior, the female staff member in Washington D.C., will be soon not work for the C.R.V.A. Tim Newman was also cited in this according to his inappropriate conduct.

The City of Charlotte did invest capitol in the C.R.V.A. Councilman Barnes is mistaken to think the city invested $1 million. The city invested around $200,000 in the C.R.V.A. New to marketing with the C.R.V.A. is Lori Wilkes. The city can not manage the C.R.V.A. The State of North Carolina passed a law to create the C.R.V.A. The city’s only jurisdiction in this is to appoint the board for the C.R.V.A. The State of North Carolina wanted a board with no ‘political meddling’ to handle venues like the Bojangles Coliseum. This is why the C.R.V.A. was originally created by the state.

How will students be affected by school closings? Ken Gjertsen, former C.M.S. Board Member and Tim Morgan, current District 6 C.M.S. Representative, were both present to sort through the big changes for the schools. The changes include: closing ten schools in 2011 and one in 2012; consolidating students and programs at five schools; relocating two programs; expanding eight schools to pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and one to K-12; expanding one school to grades six through 12; adjusting boundaries for 13 schools; providing targeted assistance to nearly 30 schools and creating two new home schools and two new magnet programs.

The C.M.S. Board voted to move Villa Heights to the Irwin Avenue I.B. Elementary Building. Lincoln Heights Elementary will close and these students will be reassigned to Bruns and Ashley Park Elementary Schools; The Board also voted to move the math and science magnet program at Harding High to Phillip O. Berry, creating a new home area for Harding. Smith Academy is moving to Waddell High. Waddell High School Students will be merging into other schools. Community House Boundaries are different now.

Will there be new charter schools in Charlotte soon? Some would like to see more charter schools in Charlotte. Many are not happy with C.M.S. Board Member Trent Merchant. Some are opposing K-8 schools. Kaye McGarry’s children went to a K-12 schools. A member of the county board of commissioners, Vilma Leake spoke at the regular C.M.S. Board meeting this past Tuesday night, November 9th. County board member Leake’s point was that some in Charlotte have already had their libraries closed and their parks closed therefore they should not have anything else closed. County Board Member Leake must not remember that it is the board she sits on that made these closing decisions just a few months ago.

While Ken Gjertsen was on the school board the motto was ‘bus for space not race’. As a result, there were board members who did not want to build schools in the suburbs of Charlotte. Instead, the board bused these students into the center of Charlotte. At that time, the school board spent $500 million on schools in the center of Charlotte. Those schools were not needed but schools were needed in the suburbs. Later, the school board spent much money to build ‘huge’ schools in the suburbs of the far north and far south of the county. The original idea was to later build more of these ‘huge’ schools in the rest of Charlotte. This last part may never happen with the major budget crisis that all are currently dealing with in this country. There were 117 public speakers at the November 9th school board meeting. Two of these 117 were ‘positive’ speakers and were willing to admit that the school board did not lightly make these changes.

The current budget crisis is much like the 1930’s budget crisis. There is a lack of money due in part to less tax money. The school board is facing a $100 million dollar budget crisis. The $3.5 million saved is not much when compared to the $100 million that must soon be saved. Raleigh will not be funding as much of the school budget. The state will be cutting as much as 15% from the school budget. The county will be cutting money from the school budget as well. In the future, there might not be any transportation provided for magnet school students. Also more schools might have to be closed to save $100 million dollars. Soon several of the montessori schools may have to merge to save money.

Charlotte’s Mayor Anthony Foxx would like to see the city and county governments consolidate soon. The mayor would also like to give taxing authority to the school board soon. Councilman Warren Cooksey does not like this idea. He does not believe any one government authority should only have a single purpose for taxation. There needs to be checks and balances. Right now there are checks and balances in the school board budget. The federal government gives a larger percentage of the budget now than it did in the past. The school board now receives money from the county, state and federal governments.

2011 will be an important election year for C.M.S. because all of the at-large members of the school board are ‘up for election’. One at-large member, ‘Coach’ Joe White, has already announced that he will not run again for school board. He has voted for staff recommendations for the past several years. Current At-Large Board Members Kaye McGarry and Trent Merchant are both up for election in 2011. Rocky River High School is a new school in the ‘middle of nowhere’. It serves students from the Hickory Grove Area and the areas all the way to Rocky River. The other new high school is Hough High School and it is very much needed in that area as well. Due to an interesting boundary configuration, the building of Rocky River is in District 6 but none of the students live in District 6.

Every 10 years the school boundaries are redrawn. How should these boundaries change? Right now, District 6 School Board Member Tim Morgan represents as many people as the combined districts of District 3 representative Dr. Joyce Waddell and District 2 representative Richard McElrath. Current District 6 Representative Tim Morgan is in favor of new two year not four year terms for all school board members. The school board is currently using the county boundaries but can draw their own boundaries in the future. The school board has until 2013 to finish drawing new boundaries.

C.M.S. is a ‘non-partisan’ board, however, here is the breakdown from the voting last Tuesday. Those who voted for the staff recommendations are: three republicans, one democrat and one unaffiliated board members. For the election in 2011, as many as thirty might run for the three at-large seats. The schools that are closed can be sold. District 6 representative Morgan is not interested in selling these properties now, while land is selling for so little. He would prefer the board sell the properties later for more money. The far north and far south will have more growth in population later. Perhaps affordable and mixed income housing can use some of the closed school properties. By law, the schools must be offered for use to the county first. There needs to be checks done on the possibility of ‘reverter clauses’ attached to one or more of these school properties. Some of these schools were built by the original ‘Charlotte School System’ and might revert back to someone other than the county. Currently Myers Park High has around 2,700 students, some of these students are in old trailers. Councilman Dulin’s son is one of these students. The school board can fix these trailers if there is a safety issue. Myers Park also is still using an old gymnasium. C.M.S. is NOT issuing bonds at this time.

Now that the decision has been made to close schools, what is the next step? Teachers who are currently at the schools that will be closed can apply for the teaching positions needed to fully staff the new Pre-K-8 and K-12 schools. Operations and transportation will increased at these Pre-K-8 and K-12 schools as well. The teachers at Davidson I.B. who are certified will mostly likely transfer to the I.B. program Alexander Middle School starting in the Fall of 2011. The majority of students currently at Smith Language Academy will be at Waddell High starting in the Fall of 2011.

Four schools are slated to be torn down: Part of Smith, Davidson I.B., Wilson and Pawtuckett. The town of Davidson might opt to use the Davidson I.B. Building. Possibly four of the ten schools to be closed will be ‘moth-balled’ until they are needed again. C.M.S. will work with the community to insure that vagrants do not break into the schools. C.M.S. will provide limited maintenance and security at these school properties.

In Ballantyne, Community House Boundaries will be changing. The new boundary for Community House is 485. Those north of 485 will start to go to South Charlotte and South Meck in the Fall of 2011. Those south of 485 will feed into Ardrey Kell High School. The $3.5 million saved by the school closings is not much compared to the $100 million that must be soon cut from the budget. In the scope of the $100 million dollar budget shortfall for the next school year, this really has only been a beginning step.

N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame Events Upcoming: Sunday, November 21st: Panthers Home Game: $2.00 off Saturday/Sunday with game ticket; $5.00 parking on Sunday. Friday, November 26th: Black Friday: Radio remote with W.R.F.X.; Free simulator rides when racing the D.J., prizes.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
www.BallantyneScoop.com

By: Susan J. Spaulding Public Policy Writer

Recent CMS community meetings have Last week two people were arrested at a C.M.S. public meeting. This happened at the October 12th public forum on school closings. Were these arrests necessary? C.M.S is near the end of a cycle of seven regional public forums. These [...]]]>

By: Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

Recent CMS community meetings have Last week two people were arrested at a C.M.S. public meeting. This happened at the October 12th public forum on school closings. Were these arrests necessary? C.M.S is near the end of a cycle of seven regional public forums. These forums are held to discuss the schools proposed to close in the fall of 2011. C.M.S. has already held five public meetings with two still to happen. The last meeting will be at The Government Center Chamber at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, October 26th. This last meeting is being handled in a new way. Only those invited to speak will be allowed to speak. The second meeting, on October 12th, was the most disruptive meeting so far. This reporter did talk to one school board member who would not comment on the October 12th meeting. According to District 6 School Board Member Tim Morgan, the board would like to have input from community leaders and parents on how they feel about the school closings. Mr. Morgan went on to state that C.M.S. staff members and board members will potentially makes some changes based on these open forums. In Ballantyne, Community House Middle School is still on the list of potential schools to to have changes (click here to see the new boundary lines for Community House Middle). The final vote for the school closings will be on November 9th. When asked, Tim Morgan stated that ‘it’ (the final vote on school closings) is still scheduled to be on November 9th. Here is the complete list of the schools that might close or have their boundaries redrawn:

Hornets Nest Elementary
Winding Springs Elementary
Torrence Creek Elementary
Alexander Graham Middle
Davidson I.B. Middle
Ranson Middle
North Mecklenburg High
Irwin Avenue Elementary
First Ward Elementary
University Park Creative Arts
Oaklawn Language Academy
J.T. Williams Middle
N.W. School of the Arts
Highland Creek Elementary
Shamrock Gardens Elementary
Villa Heights Elementary
Cochrane Middle
Garinger High
Billingsville Elementary
Cotswold Elementary
Dilworth Elementary
Lansdowne Elementary
Rama Road Elementary
Oakhurst Elementary
Albemarle Road Middle
Alexander Graham
Randolph Middle
East Mecklenburg High
Marie G. Davis Middle
Myers Park High
Amay James Pre-K
Barringer Academic Center
Pawtuckett Elementary
Tuckaseeggee Elementary
Whitewater Academy Elementary
Spaugh Academy
Whitewater Middle
Wilson Middle
West Mecklenburg High
Huntingtowne Farms Elementary
Pinewood Elementary
Park Road Montessori
Sedgefield Elementary
Community House Middle
Quail Hollow Middle
Sedgefield Middle
Smith Academy
Berry Academy
Harding University High
Olympic High
South Mecklenburg High
Waddell High

C.M.S. is giving a strong look at a new pay for performance idea. Currently the board is in the beginning stages of deciding what ‘pay for performance’ involves. The ‘pay for performance’ evaluation should roll out in three phases. When speaking to Mr. Morgan, this reporter was informed that this type of evaluation replaces a state evaluation form currently used for teachers. Also evaluated by this new policy will be C.M.S. Superintendent Dr. Peter C. Gorman and senior school staff. The piece of this new policy for teachers should be fully implemented in two or three years. Dr. Gorman’s contract was just extended through 2013. This idea would mean the board would need to construct an entirely new contract for Dr. Gorman. The board hopes to have this new contract for Dr. Gorman in place by the fall of 2011, according to Tim Morgan. Dr. Gorman’s new contract is just phase one. After Dr. Gorman’s new contract is fully in place, then the board will finish the ‘pay for performance’ for executive staff. This new evaluation for executive staff is phase two. The teacher’s ‘pay for performance’ is phase three. After the executive staff phase is finished, then the ‘pay for performance’ evaluation for teachers will be finished. C.M.S. hopes that this new ‘pay for performance’ is a better way to evaluate the many who make our schools work.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 4, 2010 – Six schools were removed from the list of 78 facing a wide range of changes during a work session of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Oct. 4. The works session was part of the Board’s comprehensive review of the district that began in June.

With seven [...]]]>

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 4, 2010 – Six schools were removed from the list of 78 facing a wide range of changes during a work session of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Oct. 4. The works session was part of the Board’s comprehensive review of the district that began in June.

With seven of nine members present, the Board voted 4-3 against a proposed consolidation of Chantilly and Highland Mills, both Montessori elementary schools. The Board also voted 6-1 to make no changes at Myers Park Traditional and Elizabeth Traditional, both elementary schools with traditional programs. The Board also voted 7-0 against a proposal to redraw boundaries for Mint Hill Middle and Ballantyne Elementary schools.

Staff also brought forward a change to the proposal that would add a partial International Baccalaureate magnet program at Blythe Elementary and a partial language immersion/talent development program at Mallard Creek Elementary. The Board has not voted on that.

The comprehensive review, which began with a series of community forums and work sessions in June, seeks to align Board decisions with the district’s strategic plan and establish a consistent, strategic approach on individual issues. The review is intended to be wide-ranging and examine issues including magnet schools, transportation, boundaries, enrollments, use of facilities and funding

The Oct. 4 votes continued the Board’s consideration of a proposal by CMS staff that would have made changes ranging from boundary shifts to closing buildings. The proposal is based on guiding principles approved by the Board earlier this year as part of the comprehensive review.

The original proposal, unveiled Sept. 28, would have closed 11 facilities in CMS. Six were closures of buildings with the programs moving to larger or better facilities. Two would have consolidated one school into another, and closed three middle schools, shifting their students shifting either to newly established Pre-K-8 programs at the feeder elementary schools or to another middle school

Another 29 schools were proposed to get targeted assistance from staff, which could include help with a school improvement plan or with changing community perception of the school. Five schools now at overcapacity would have boundary changes to relieve overcrowding, according to the proposal.

Additional changes would create eight schools with enrollment of pre-kindergarten through grade eight, one school with enrollment of kindergarten through grade 12 and one school with grades six through 12.

Other changes proposed by staff would change Irwin Avenue from an elementary school into an administrative facility to house employees now at the Education Center and the Professional Development Center, and create two year-round, multi-track magnet schools at other sites.

The Board will make a final decision at its Nov. 9 meeting.

To see the presentation from the Oct. 4 work session, click here.

The Board will also hold another series of public forums in October to allow public comment on the proposals. To see a list of the forum meeting places and times, click here.

Ballantyne, NC – On September 10th,the morning breakfast meeting opened with a hot topic: C.M.S. Current District 6 School Board member Tim Morgan and former board member Ken Gjertsen were both in attendance to help sort out some of the new changes to C.M.S. Tim Morgan explained that the new proposed changes are [...]]]>

Ballantyne, NC – On September 10th,the morning breakfast meeting opened with a hot topic: C.M.S. Current District 6 School Board member Tim Morgan and former board member Ken Gjertsen were both in attendance to help sort out some of the new changes to C.M.S. Tim Morgan explained that the new proposed changes are all part of the new student assignment policy of the board. Some schools are overcrowded and others are underutilized. The ‘performance cost indicator’ looks at student academic growth. Does the indicator show that a student has gained one year’s worth of academic growth in one calendar year? Has a student grown more or less than the one year mark?

The term ‘proficient’ is used to equate a score of a 3 or a 4 on the E.O.G. or E.O.C.’s. Some of the proposed changes to schools might happen as soon as the Fall of 2011. C.M.S. is looking at the per pupil cost of schools, the staff, the utilities and transportation. South Charlotte, as a whole, uses less money per student than any of the other schools in Mecklenburg County. Olympic High School’s progress has been a good surprise. Olympic is structured as five small schools which means it has five principals. Recent C.M.S ranking has put Olympic as numbers one, three, six, eight and nine among local public schools. Olympic has good performance and cost per student.

Garinger High School is also structured as a “small” school like Olympic. C.M.S. is facing a “cliff” of money that will permanently go away and there also are no capital dollars. A clarification on the transportation issue, the shuttle stops are manned by C.M.S. buses not C.A.T.S. buses. C.M.S. approximates that during this school year, there will be a gain of 1,200 to 1,500 new students in the system. The school board is trying to deal with extended growth and a large loss of funds.

C.M.S. Staff presented proposed changes to the board this past Tuesday, September 7th, in a work session. C.M.S. Staff proposed changes to 32 schools. Dr. Gorman has added another five schools since then to the list. This brings the total on the list to 37 schools. Locally, there are a cluster of elementary schools that are low income, under utilized and low performing. Should C.M.S. create one large, low performing school? This is not a good option. The current school board will not consider busing children as an option. Another solution available is a ‘year-round’ program. The board is hand picking the best schools that might work for this ‘year-round’ option.

Already in place at several schools locally is ‘strategic staffing’. This program is a higher cost per pupil and uses ‘Title I’ dollars. Operational costs are normally higher with schools in this program. C.M.S. is adding more schools to this ‘strategic staffing’ program every year. Every three years there is a serious evaluation of each school on this program. Most of the schools that were chosen for this program are ‘older’ schools in this system. The exceptions to the higher cost are Devonshire Elementary and Villa Heights Elementary. Both of these schools have a low-cost per student and they are both on ‘strategic staffing’. Villa Heights has 304 students and 21% of the students come from economically challenged homes. Villa Heights has already experienced tremendous growth. There is a 94.4% proficiency level at this school. Also the academic growth at this school shows that the students are making more than one years growth in one calendar year.

Villa Heights is a magnet school with high parental involvement. Are full or partial magnet schools effective and worth the extra money? Already there are good signs of improvement with ‘strategic staffing’ schools.

What is the result of people who “choice out” of schools? There are at least three reasons to ‘choice out’ of a ‘home’ school:
1. Go to a magnet school.
2. Go to a ‘Title I’ school.
3. Go to the school ‘where a family member who is a teacher or staff member’ works.

Quail Hollow Elementary is struggling in part due to 261 students who have “choiced out” of this school. South Mecklenburg High School is still growing and had 1,900 students at the end of the school year in the spring of 2010. The change in the student population at C.M.S. could be due to children returning from private schools, people new to Mecklenburg County and hispanic workers. The hispanic construction workers’ children have decreased while at the same time children of hispanic service workers has increased. McClintock also has pretty good numbers. Rama Road Elementary has lower numbers than McClintock. What would schools look like if there was no “choice out” option?

The new idea is to create K-8 schools. Behind the scenes, staff at C.M.S. has starting looking at this idea. The school board has tentatively looked at three to five locations that would work for the K-8 idea. This whole concept provides a stable environment and keeps the student at the same school for eight years. The S.T.E.M. program would work well with this new idea. Two of the schools that would work for this are Quail Hollow and McClintock. Demographics have changed and there are no longer large numbers of school children in particular sections of Charlotte.

Several years ago, there were C.M.S. board members who were particularly determined NOT to build any schools in the Ballantyne Area. These school board members were happy to bus all of the students in Ballantyne to the far reaches of Mecklenburg County. Better utilization of schools will help to save more money. Several schools are over capacity but there is no money to build more schools. There are four solutions available to help schools that are over-capacity:
1. Change the ‘boundaries’ for a particular set of schools.
2. More mobile classes at a school: i.e. ‘mobile villages’.
3. ‘Year-round’ format: forced or magnet.
4. Busing children to other schools.

Right now C.M.S has 600 mobiles that are vacant and these can be utilized to help with over-crowded schools if necessary. Mobiles do help with over-crowded schools but NOT with cost savings. Mobile classrooms actually cost MORE money than ‘brick-and mortar’ schools. This is due to the number of ‘outside‘ walls in a mobile. The floor is also an ‘outside‘ wall thus H.V.A.C. costs are very high. Both Carmel and Hawthorne Elementary Schools are ‘permanent’ mobile schools. They only have mobile classrooms available at these schools.

Elementary schools might fare better the high schools or middle schools in adopting the new ‘year-round’ format. The current school board will not seriously consider the ‘busing’ option. The school system will ‘gain space’ if the ‘year-round’ option is realized. The ‘year-round’ school would operate in 12-week segments. Each group of children would go to school for nine weeks and then immediately have three weeks off from school. The students schedule would be staggered and the school would always be utilized. Parents at Mint Hill Middle School are upset because there are large numbers of students at the school. This is an ‘ugly’ situation. There are also unhappy parents at Mint Hill High School due to increased numbers of students at this school. There is a potential for 2,000 students at Mint Hill Middle School.

In the Ballantyne Area, the three schools affected are: Mint Hill High School, Community House Middle School and Ballantyne Elementary. Some who live in the ‘Pineville Boot’ would like to have the boundary changed for Ballantyne Elementary to include the people living in this ‘boot’. Low-income students can greatly benefit from the ‘year-round’ school option. If a student is having trouble with a specific subject the student can spend one of the three weeks off working with a tutor or a teacher to improve said subject. Currently in Wake County, there are several ‘optional year-round’ schools that have been ‘year-round’ for a few years. Are there enough votes on the current school board to make ‘year-round‘ school mandatory rather than an option? Tim Morgan thinks that there are not enough votes for the mandatory option.

Ken Gjertsen talked about a church that has adopted a school and helps tutor the children and the parents. Ken stressed that consistency is the key to ‘community measures’ being helpful. Two new ‘broad residents’ will be joining C.M.S to help manage education reform. Here is the link to the article: http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/News/Pages/TwonewBroadresidentsjoinCMStomanageeducationreforminCharlotte.aspx
The goal is to have all of the decisions made on the ‘school changes list’ by the end of November.

Larry Huelsman, member of the board of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (C.R.V.A.), was also present for the breakfast meeting. Last Tuesday, September 7th, the city council met at the airport. The hot topic was the new taxi ordinance. The C.R.V.A frequently takes surveys and has many volunteers at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The Visitor’s Authority has received much negative feedback about the taxis in Charlotte. The business lease rate at the airport in Charlotte is especially low. The taxi drivers and owners do not want the fees and rates on taxis to go up soon. There is also a city ordinance that states that all taxi companies in Charlotte must own a minimum of 30 taxi cabs.

The new taxi ordinance that is now proposed would require all taxis have a G.P.S. in the vehicle as well as a credit card unit in the back of each vehicle. Charlotte-Douglas is the eighth busiest airport in the U.S.A. Former Mayor Harris was the one who got airport bonds passed in 1979 and made major improvements to the airport.

The new N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame is looking to get more corporate sponsorships and bring in more money in a variety of ways. The Hall of Fame is also looking to cut costs. Wray Ward is the advertising firm for the Hall of Fame. The Wild Wings near the Hall of Fame has been attracting many good customers lately. The new convention center has a Bojangles and a Starbucks. Both of these businesses are doing well and bringing in good customers as well. The two-percent hotel/motel tax is what pays for the Hall of Fame. The Wingate Hotel is in need of more N.A.S.C.A.R. Hall of Fame brochures. Hopefully this indicator and other positive indicators will equal a ‘turn around’ of the economy. There are no public funds used for the N.A.S.C.A.R. Tower. Charlotte is hearing good things so far about the Queen City’s chances of hosting the D.N.C. The C.R.V.A is very much about the ‘green’ movement. At the corner of Trade and Tryon, this coming Tuesday, September 14th at 3:30 pm there will be a green movement meeting. This will be held in the auditorium of the ‘60-Story’ Bank of America Tower.

Susan J Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
Ballantyne Scoop

Victory Brings First State Title to CMS Ballntyne, N.C. – After reading 27 books and competing in four competitions, Jay M. Robinson Middle School was crowned May 7 as the Battle of the Books state champion. It’s the first CMS school ever win the state title. The nine-member team previously won the [...]]]>

Victory Brings First State Title to CMS

Ballntyne, N.C. – After reading 27 books and competing in four competitions, Jay M. Robinson Middle School was crowned May 7 as the Battle of the Books state champion. It’s the first CMS school ever win the state title. The nine-member team previously won the learning community, district and regional competitions.
Jay M. Robinson Middle and eight other middle schools across the state competed for the state title at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Sponsored by the North Carolina School Library Media Association, Battle of the Books is a middle school reading incentive program to encourage students to broaden reading interests and increase reading comprehension. Schools often begin preparing during the summer and continue throughout the school year until the competition begins the following spring.

Team members, who are coached by media specialists Danielle Raj and Geri Gelina, include Sharath Rama, Michelle Zhao, Emma Hankins, Haley Reid, Olivia Lane, Ann Hu, Chloe Fang, Bhargavi Bhaskar and Nefer Batsuli.
To prepare for the competition, Jay M. Robinson’s students read, discussed and quizzed each other on books from a designated list of 27 selections, including the classic “White Fang” and the 2009 Newbery Award winner “The Graveyard Book.”

“Throughout the state competition, the students from Robinson were poised and focused. Going into the final round it became apparent that Robinson and Aycock Middle would need to play a tiebreaker. At the last minute, Pilot Mountain Middle scored enough points to make it a three-way tie,” said Joanne Dawson, who is a program specialist in the media services department at CMS. “Robinson remained calm and confident as they outplayed the competition and secured the championship.”

As the state winner, Robinson won a trophy and each student received a medallion. While the students will surely savor this win for a long time, they are already preparing to defend their state title as next year’s list for the 2010-2011 Battle of the Book competition has already been released.

Click here for more information on Battle of the Books.

Charlotte, NC – County Commissioner Bill James has filed for re-election for county district seat 6. In a recent interview James spoke about what he considers being his greatest accomplishment over the past 14 years mentioning his role in changing the policy of CMS busing plan. This issue took place during his early [...]]]>

Charlotte, NC – County Commissioner Bill James has filed for re-election for county district seat 6. In a recent interview James spoke about what he considers being his greatest accomplishment over the past 14 years mentioning his role in changing the policy of CMS busing plan. This issue took place during his early days as an elected official.

James was first elected in to office in 1996 after two failed bids for City Council. In a mostly republican district he describes himself as a conservative working to promote fiscal responsibility for the county. When asked what is the most important issue facing Char-Meck in this current election he stated

He also states that the board that is to be elected during this political cycle will be responsible for the redrawing of the new district lines that is required every ten years.

James played a major role in the decision of putting the county on a “debt diet” by writing letters to the national credit reporting agencies that assign credit scores to municipalities. According to James, the credit scoring agencies threatened to downgrade Mecklenburg County’s credit score by several levels if they did not reign in their spending.

The county commissioners are responsible for allocating money to CMS (approx 1/3 of their annual budget), public libraries, parks and recreation, CPCC and the building of a new jail on Spector Drive. The changes on the bond allowances will force the elimination of as much as 75% of the CMS projects currently in their 10-year plan. The financing of the new jail expansion is expected to cost around $220 million over four years.

“Char-Meck has been fiscally irresponsible over the past decade that they are going to face a hangover for many years to come”.

- Bill James, Charlotte City Council

Commissioner James is a CPA by trade but no longer has an active license in North Carolina. He is the father of four children ranging in age from 11 to 22. He has been a critic of the CMS system stating that they are not good stewards of their finances. He made reference to the $16 million that was allocated to Marie G. Davis school for improvements. The school had few students and has since been converted into a military leadership school. James feels that CMS allocated monies to inner city schools in order to placate the districts stating that “politicians want to keep everyone happy”.

Commissioner James was recently involved in a controversy surrounding the debate on domestic partnership benefits debate. He was overheard asking fellow commissioner Vilma Leake if her son, who had dies of AIDS, was a “homo.” James felt it was unnecessary to apologize for something that was not meant with ill intent. He says he was just using the term for homosexuals that he was familiar with. James is opposed to offering county employees domestic partner benefits due to the fact that in North Carolina engaging in homosexual sex is still considered a crime.

The implementation of the domestic partner benefits program according to James would cost the county around $500,000 a year and during this economic environment this is not the time to add cost. He also feels that the way the policy is structured it is open to abuse. When pressed on the issue of whether or not abuse is also an issue in traditional marriages he admitted that yes there will be people that take advantage of any thing.

On the last topic of conversation, what did James think about public officials tweeting, texting or emailing during sessions? While he did not say it was wrong, he did feel it was open to misinterpretation and that he does not engage in it.

caroline@ballantynescoop.com

The Scoop Network captured the oath of office ceremony at Charlotte City Council. Warren Cooksey was sworn in as District 7 councilman and Andy Dulin took the oath as District 6 councilman.

caroline@ballantynescoop.com