CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 16, 2011 – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will begin polling parents, students and community members tomorrow, March 17, for input on the 2012-2013 CMS school calendar. Two calendar options and the poll will go live after 9 a.m. on March 17. A link to the poll, which includes both versions of [...]]]>

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 16, 2011 – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will begin polling parents, students and community members tomorrow, March 17, for input on the 2012-2013 CMS school calendar. Two calendar options and the poll will go live after 9 a.m. on March 17. A link to the poll, which includes both versions of the 2012-2013 calendar (Calendar A and Calendar B), will be located on the CMS home page under Calendar Poll. The poll will end at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 24.

A committee of CMS teachers, principals, administrators, parents and community members designed two 2012-2013 school calendars with various options for teacher workdays, annual leave days and holidays throughout the 215-day school year. Both calendars meet the requirements of North Carolina law, North Carolina Board of Education and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education policies. Among those requirements:
The calendar must cover 215 total days, divided among instructional school days, teacher workdays, annual leave days and holidays.

There must be 180 instructional school days, starting no earlier than Aug. 25 and ending no later than June 10.
The calendar must include 15 teacher workdays, including one scheduled before school starts and one scheduled at the end of each academic quarter.

There are 10 holidays, one of which must be Veterans Day.
There must be 10 annual leave days.
The calendar committee must also schedule an equal number of days for the first and second semesters so that high school courses have 135 instructional hours.

The major differences between the two calendars include days in which teacher workdays are offered, the length of winter break and the week of spring break. Both calendars have eight severe weather make-up days.

After the polling period concludes, CMS Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman will review the results, evaluate comments submitted by staff, parents and community residents, and could make changes to either calendar. He will recommend one calendar to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. The Board is scheduled to vote on the 2012-2013 calendar at its April 12 meeting.

Calendar A

Calendar Comparisons

Ballantyne, NC – Is there pressure on the schools to teach the children? Is C.M.S just throwing money at the school problems? The C.M.S. Board of Education draws the lines for which students attend which specific schools. District 6 C.M.S. Representative Tim Morgan reminded all that the magnet schools were created to alleviate [...]]]>

Ballantyne, NC – Is there pressure on the schools to teach the children? Is C.M.S just throwing money at the school problems? The C.M.S. Board of Education draws the lines for which students attend which specific schools. District 6 C.M.S. Representative Tim Morgan reminded all that the magnet schools were created to alleviate issues with children attending their ‘home’ schools.

Will the Charter School cap be lifted? Scott Babbidge is concerned that schools do not use detention as a method to control behavior. The K.I.P.P. Academy requires parents and students sign a contract in order to become a student. The county board of commissioners does not have authority to control the schools. The authority resides with the C.M.S. Board of Education. Scott Babbidge and Scott Mickel are both members of the Charlotte Chamber Legislative Agenda Task Force. Both asked if the C.M.S. Board of Education had adopted a legislative agenda at this time. District 6 C.M.S. Representative Morgan explained that the C.M.S. Board has not yet adopted a legislative agenda. The C.M.S. Board does anticipate soon adopting this agenda.

Morgan also stated that the school board is ‘pushing’ for ‘greater flexibility’ from the North Carolina General Assembly. The state requires that the school year is 180 days between August 25th and June 10th. Currently the exams fall after Christmas. Many would like to see the exams happen before Christmas. ‘Greater flexibility’ from the general assembly would allow this exam time change to happen. It would also allow many other necessary changes to be decided by local board members.

At the January 25th meeting, several key decisions must be finalized by the board of education. The first is a bell-schedule/transportation change. These changes are linked. Currently, all elementary schools meet for six hours and 15 minutes per day. Local high schools meet for seven hours per day. This change would put most elementary schools at a seven hour school day. If the elementary bell change is finalized, this allows for greater bus efficiency. Each bus can be used for four or possibly five schools. These changes will equal a savings of $4 million dollars. The state originally mandated this bell schedule in order to give time for the teachers to plan at the end of each day. C.M.S will work at the ‘school-house level’ to ensure that teachers have time to plan. C.M.S does not anticipate teachers working longer days due to this change.

Another item to be finalized at the January 25th meeting is the change to ‘Bright Beginnings’. This would be a $10 million dollars savings. The number of ‘Bright Beginning’ Classes would go from 175 to 70 if this change is implemented. The third important vote for the January 25th meeting is ‘weighted student staffing’. The ‘weighted student staffing’ is scheduled to go from 1.3 to 1.25 with this proposed change. This change would save $10 million dollars. These decisions will be made final in the January 25th board meeting.

The current deadline is a ‘self-imposed’ board deadline. The school board would like to give time for parents to know about the elementary school bell-schedule/transportation change. They would also like for teachers to also know about this same bell-schedule/transportation change. Each school needs to know how many teachers they will be loosing. The school board would like to provide information to the community about ‘Bright Beginnings’. This is done so local service providers will have time to ‘step up’ and help with the children who were in ‘Bright Beginnings’.

Also at the January 25th board meeting, the magnet school transportation change will be considered. Some board members would like to remove all C.M.S. School Transportation for magnet schools to save money. Currently the board does not know the exact shortfall of this budget. 85% of the school funding comes from the county and the state. The school board does not know the exact amount that it will receive from either the county or the state. The board is facing an approximate shortfall of $100 million for the new budget.

The April 26th meeting is the public budget meeting. The final vote on this budget will happen at the May 10th C.M.S. Board Meeting. The next board meeting is Tuesday, January 25th at 6:00 pm in the government center. All are encouraged to attend.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

What will be cut in this new budget cycle? C.M.S. District 6 School Board Member Tim Morgan was happy to answer questions about this budget. Friday, November 19th, the C.M.S. Board of Education had their first meeting about the budget for 2011-2012. The board has been told to brace for millions in [...]]]>

What will be cut in this new budget cycle? C.M.S. District 6 School Board Member Tim Morgan was happy to answer questions about this budget. Friday, November 19th, the C.M.S. Board of Education had their first meeting about the budget for 2011-2012. The board has been told to brace for millions in cuts for this new budget. The cuts from the State of North Carolina could be 5%, 10% or 15%. These percentages represent a percent less than the state gave to the schools last year. Governor Perdue has said this board should prepare for as much as $170 million in cuts. The range given to the school board was $70 million – $170 million. The state might give between $31 million – $94 million to the budget for C.M.S. The school board also does not know how much they will be getting from the county government. C.M.S. does anticipate a $15 million – $30 million loss of stimulus funds. The last budget cycle started in January of 2010. This year, the budget cycle has started in November. The staff and the board of education pushed for this early budget cycle due to the deep cuts anticipated. These cuts could total as much as 10% of the budget. Right now, the board is anticipating various ways to cut spending. Currently, there are many unknowns in this budget cycle.

C.M.S. Board Member Tim Morgan explained that in the Friday meeting, the board looked at two general items that might be cut. First was transportation and second was staffing. Transportation cuts could save $4 million – $10 million. C.M.S. Board Member Tim Morgan went on to explain ‘Weighted Staffing’. This type of staffing is implemented locally in high poverty schools to ensure smaller classes and give children more attention. This type of staffing changes the teacher to student ratio. One ‘regular’ student is allotted ‘one’ teacher per student. In contrast, students in ‘weighted staffing’ get 1.3 teachers per student. Obviously, this staffing costs the school system more money. C.M.S. currently spends $48 million on ‘weighted staffing’ per year. This board has told the staff to begin preparing a ‘tiered’ approach to this new budget that is similar to the ‘tiered’ approach taken last budget cycle. For example, the budget should be broken down in percentages or dollars cut or saved. If 5% is cut, here are the specific items that must be cut in order to make this happen. If 10% is cut, here are the specific items that must be cut to make the 10% cut happen, etc. Last year, the staff had several ‘scenarios’ in the final budget recommendation to the board. In this budget cycle, no new priorities have been set. These priorities will be set by the board later. C.M.S does not have a schedule of when the final vote on the budget will happen. The community workshops, where the public are allowed to speak, might start in early 2011. What else can be cut that has not already been cut? The next meeting will be the school board workshop on December 14th. The public is not allowed to speak but can attend this meeting. This December 14th meeting will be at 4:30 pm in room Ch-14 of the government center.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer

http://ballantynescoop.com

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

Charlotte, NC – What really is going on with the Butler High School Football Team? There have been three team members arrested since May 2010. C.M.S. District 6 Board Member Tim Morgan explained that the football coach is Mike Newsome. Mr. Morgan went on to say that he would “hope we would [...]]]>

Charlotte, NC – What really is going on with the Butler High School Football Team? There have been three team members arrested since May 2010. C.M.S. District 6 Board Member Tim Morgan explained that the football coach is Mike Newsome. Mr. Morgan went on to say that he would “hope we would not see more of this” (arrests/bad behavior) from the football team at Butler. There seems to be no shortage of poor judgement from this team.

Two administrators were just suspended from North Mecklenburg High School. Was there a cover up in the works over a sexual assault at this high school? The interim principal and an assistant principal were suspended with pay recently. Mr. Morgan stated that this is an ongoing personnel matter. Mr. Morgan made no other comments on this issue. Time will tell what happened at this school.

Mr. Morgan stated that he is comfortable with the direction they (the school board) are currently moving. Tuesday, November 9th will be a historic vote by the board to close schools in the fall of 2011. Which schools will close? C.M.S. Board member Trent Merchant did state in an email yesterday (November 7th) that he would like to postpone part of this vote. However, Chairperson Eric Davis stated yesterday that the entire vote will still happen on November 9th. The possible closing of Harding, Waddell or Smith Language Academy does ‘stir up’ this community.

This writer decided long ago that NO school can be closed ANYWHERE in this great country of ours without MUCH public anguish. Mr. Morgan stated that the public forums held were necessary and significant because of the number of students impacted. He also said that it was important to get public input in this matter. Several have called for a postponed school board vote. Mr. Morgan said that he is “happy the current board is where it needs to be”. He also stated that the “only way to change the vote is with a significant event”. A ‘significant event’ like adding schools to ‘the list’.

More than 25,000 students might be impacted by this big decision. The total number of schools impacted is rumored to be now at over two dozen. Staff are scheduled to give a report recommending which schools to close and the logistical details needed to close these schools this Tuesday night, November 9th at 6:00 pm. You can read the new staff proposals here.

This school board meeting will be open to the public. The public (who have already signed up) will have two minutes each to speak. This meeting will be held in the government center in the meeting chamber. The government center is located on 600 East Fourth Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28262.

Susan J. Spaulding
Public Policy Writer
Ballantyne Scoop

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

The breakfast meeting opened with talk of the county board meeting last night, June 3rd. The county board of commissioners “found” more money by increasing their estimation of the sales tax revenue. Some wonder if this is a good idea. Disappointment might follow in a few months if all of this sales tax [...]]]>

The breakfast meeting opened with talk of the county board meeting last night, June 3rd. The county board of commissioners “found” more money by increasing their estimation of the sales tax revenue. Some wonder if this is a good idea. Disappointment might follow in a few months if all of this sales tax revenue is not a reality. More libraries will close and teachers will have to be let go if the county does not receive as much as it is currently estimating.

Monday, June 7th, the city council will meet at 1:30 pm for a “straw vote” and later that same day at 5:00 pm for a dinner meeting. Will the city give money to the county for the libraries? The county is asking for a total of $8 million to keep the libraries open one more year. The county would like $2 million from the city. The county will pay $3.5 million. The rest would need to come from other towns in Mecklenburg County. Mint Hill is the only town that has indicated that they can afford to help the libraries. All of the other towns have said they do not have any “extra” funds to help. The county is now talking about several scenarios to keep the libraries open. One scenario would only keep open the regional libraries. In another scenario where the county does receive all $8 million for the libraries, they could keep open the regional libraries plus several of the local libraries. Carmel, Belmont and the “Check-It Outlet” all will be closed no matter which scenario is followed. Morrison might be closed soon as well. At some point before 2002, the city purchased land on Community House Road for a library. In 2007, their was a yes vote on a bond that would build the library on Community House Road in Ballantyne but this library was never built. The old library concept in Mecklenburg County was to build local libraries. The new concept in this county for libraries is to build regional libraries.

On the city council, there has been some arm twisting when it comes to votes to give money for the libraries. Edwin Peacock was originally strongly for giving money for the libraries. Now Edwin Peacock might vote not to give money for the libraries. Michael Barnes is still saying that he will vote yes to help the libraries. Warren Turner and Susan Burgess are wavering on how they will vote. Right now there are six council members voting against giving money for the libraries. In 1973 the General Assembly of North Carolina voted to let the counties take over the library system. Originally, the city was slated to give $2.2 million for the New Court System Technology Amendment for the District Attorney’s Office. This money might be given instead to the county for the libraries. We will need to wait for the local towns, the city council and county board members to meet before we know how many libraries can be saved.

The city is now talking about affordable housing and will need extra money to fund this project. The federal stimulus money did fund an extra 50 police officers recently. The city currently has a supplemental street resurfacing fund of $4.2 million dollars. This street resurfacing fund money can be used to pay for police officers after the federal stimulus money goes away. Also there
is a Powell Bill Fund that can be used to resurface streets. This is the “shell game” being played to keep more city police officers.

They city needs more money for several projects. The transportation action plan chart shows that the city does not have enough money for the current transportation plan. $7.26 billion is needed for this plan.

Andy Munn, from the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, was at this breakfast meeting. The new Whitewater Center is looking for a development land swap. Ron Kimble recently said that this land will not result in a city street later. Mr. Munn is concerned that the city is not following it’s own urban street design guide.

One of the many committees in this city is Committee 21. They are considering adding another half cent sales tax to get $81 million for the city. They were also considering toll roads for our freeways but have voted no on this measure. They are considering ways to raise more money.

Only 1% of the people in the city complain about their utility bills. “Peninsula” housing development does have 31 homeowners complaining that their water bills are too high. If the weather brings flood or drought, the water bills need to go higher in both of these scenarios. In comparison to several cities in the southeast, Charlotte is one-third lowest in water usage. Again in comparison to several cities in the southeast, only Tampa, Florida and San Antonio, Texas have lower water cost compared to Charlotte. All of the other cities in the southeast have higher water cost than Charlotte. According to the American Water Works Association Standards, Charlotte has below average “head count” in the water department. Starting in June, the city will review utility rates. Debt service projections for Fiscal Year 2013 state that costs will go down. This might drive a rate increase. The city might need to scale back the capitol plan. The city’s water utilities staff can be slow to respond to maintenance calls. Does the city always need a four man crew to respond to any water maintenance calls? Is the city researching the number of repair calls?

The city is now talking about a new way to evaluate the city manager. Right now, the city does not have a quantitative way to evaluate the manager. The city will need new benchmarks to evaluate the manager. Is the city is giving a bonus to he city manger this year? The city manager is scheduled to be evaluated in September 2010. Is the city saving money? Right now the city is hitting 90% of the benchmarks that are set.

Tim Morgan, C.M.S., stated that Dr. Peter Gorman will not be accepting any bonus money for the second year in a row. This same measure is true for Dr. Gorman’s top staff members. This is another cost saving measure for C.M.S.

The city is now looking to annex several parts of Mecklenburg County. These places include: Rhine, Whitehall and Camp Stewart South. This will include 4,000 people total in this annexation. This type of annexation is profitable for the city. In FY 2012 and FY 2014 the city will make money by annexing these three places. Tim Morgan added that residential areas pay for themselves. This is due to the fact that the city makes money.

H.U.D. money is now paying for a school in Charlotte. This school will be near Boulevard Homes which is close to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. This will be an elementary and work should begin in the fall. This cost for this school is $12 million. C.M.S. Board Member, Tim Morgan, stated that the elementary near Boulevard Homes is a replacement elementary. Two new high schools are on the current capitol list for C.M.S. These are the only two news schools in the current capital plan.

Councilman Michael Barnes is currently running for District Attorney. Tim Morgan asked if Councilman Barnes wins how will his replacement be handled. Warren Cooksey stated that they city will pick a democrat from District 4 to replace Councilman Barnes if he wins in November. This is because Councilman Barnes is a democrat from that same district. One person who is a possibility for this seat is Claire G. Fallon. The city wants to pick someone who will not run for election later.

There is a new Carolina Thread Trail in Charlotte where the public can explore new trails. On June 24th at 7:00 pm at Harrison United Methodist Church will be a forum moderated by Warren Cooksey. The public is invited to this forum on affordable housing. On June 3rd, W.B.T.V. Channel 3 did a segment on traffic problems on 485 South near Highway 51/Carolina Place Mall. Ray Eschert was interviewed for this piece and is in favor of using the shoulder on 485 to help ease congestion in this area. Mr. Eschert is encouraging leaders in Raleigh and locally to speed up the process on everyday use of the shoulder.

Susan J. Spaulding
Ballantyne Scoop

Ballanrtyne, N.C. – The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education on May 11 approved its 2010-2011 budget request to Mecklenburg County.

The request, part of the district’s $1.15 billion proposed operating budget for 2010-2011, was approved after a lengthy public hearing and Board discussion. About two dozen members of the public spoke at the Board [...]]]>

Ballanrtyne, N.C. – The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education on May 11 approved its 2010-2011 budget request to Mecklenburg County.

The request, part of the district’s $1.15 billion proposed operating budget for 2010-2011, was approved after a lengthy public hearing and Board discussion. About two dozen members of the public spoke at the Board meeting, most of them on some aspect of the proposed budget.

The 2010-2011 budget asks Mecklenburg County for a $15.5 million increase to cover growth, new schools and sustaining operations. The district expects to gain 1,287 students for the 2010-2011 school year, which will add $5.1 million to its costs. CMS is requesting $804,540 from the county to help cover these costs. The district will open two new high schools at an added cost of $8 million, and is asking the county to fund $6.6 million of that. In addition, the county funding request would cover some of the district’s higher costs for program continuation and benefits.

In all, CMS is asking Mecklenburg County for $332.9 million, up from the $317.4 million the district received from the county for the 2009-2010 budget.

“We feel tremendous anxiety over this funding proposal,” Eric Davis, Board chairman, said before the vote. “I call upon our partners on the county commission and in the state legislature to reduce the amount of funding cuts that we face.”

Several Board members proposed amendments to the budget before the vote. Only one amendment was approved. The Board voted 7-2 to remove all funding for CMS TV, the district’s television operation, and then approved the budget with the amendment.

The district’s proposed 2010-2011 budget redirects $3.7 million to pay for new initiatives intended to increase student achievement and improve employee performance. The proposed budget also reflects $12.9 million in state funding reductions.

“While we must cope with the fallout from the financial realities, we also want to keep increasing student achievement,” Dr. Peter C. Gorman, superintendent of the district, said. “These new initiatives will help us do that.”
The district received 56 percent of its funding from the state for the 2009-2010 budget year and 28 percent from Mecklenburg County, with the remainder coming from federal and other local sources. Both state and county funding declined significantly from the levels a year earlier and officials in both places have suggested that this year may also bring sharply reduced funding.

The proposed CMS budget for 2010-2011 includes scenarios that would allow the district to make more than $62 million in additional cuts. If all of the scenarios are put into operation, CMS would make cuts of more than $78 million and reduce its work force by more than 1,000 employees.

The formal budget request will be sent to County Manager Harry Jones on May 14. The district’s budget will not be completed until the state budget is approved later this summer.

Ballantyne, NC – Hawk Ridge Elementary School parents were informed that the school bell would now ring almost two hours earlier this fall. Currently the school located on Bryant Farms Road has a start time of 8:30, thus allowing for the school drop off time not to conflict with the rush hour traffic. [...]]]>

Ballantyne, NC – Hawk Ridge Elementary School parents were informed that the school bell would now ring almost two hours earlier this fall. Currently the school located on Bryant Farms Road has a start time of 8:30, thus allowing for the school drop off time not to conflict with the rush hour traffic. With the new proposed start time set to be 7:30 , this will almost certainly complicate traffic in Ballantyne.

The school is located on the side of Bryant Farms where traffic routinely backs up during the morning rush hour.

CMS is facing a major budget shortfall and is looking to find ways to save money. The school system hopes that by shifting the start times it will allow a more efficient use of the busses by allowing up four schools to share busses. District 6 School Board Representative Tim Morgan has notified CMS of his concerns, including the ability for the busses to actually make the turn arounds between the schools. However, since this is an operational issue the school board does not get involved in the decisions.

caroline@ballantynescoop.com

2010 Ballantyne Scoop The Scoop Network

Tim Morgan and John Ross, candidates for CMS Board District 6 held their last candidate forum before Tuesday’s election tonight in the Thornhill Neighborhood. The air was crisp and so were the questions from a neighborhood that has felt left out over the years. Even though the turnout was low passion ran deep [...]]]>

Tim Morgan and John Ross, candidates for CMS Board District 6 held their last candidate forum before Tuesday’s election tonight in the Thornhill Neighborhood. The air was crisp and so were the questions from a neighborhood that has felt left out over the years. Even though the turnout was low passion ran deep with this group of interested voters. Both candidates were asked several times by attendees “how do we know we can trust you?” Thornhill resident Danny Paulson stressed the fact that Thornhill residents had been lied to many times by school board members and that what is needed most is honesty and accountability.

Both candidates were cordial and agreed on many issues, including the fact that voters not only need to look closely at this election but also ahead to the at-large elections in 2 years. Tim Morgan made the point several times that not only should voters look hard at this week’s election but they should also be considering candidates for the 2011 at-large election, since 3 of the at-large board members come from the Myers Park area instead of the suburban areas where most of the growth is occurring.

The Thornhill neighborhood has been shuffled around by CMS over the past several years, changing more than any other Ballantyne neighborhood. “It was not until Ken Gjertsen came on board that Thornhill finally had a great advocate” stated Danny at the meeting.

John Ross stated that student assignment, budget concerns and safety are his primary concerns. As a father of six young children, 3 of which are already in the CMS system he wants to see more accountability and better planning. Ross’s position is that discussions need to take place within the communities before decisions are made, instead of after.

Tim Morgan, a former Thornhill resident that moved his family because of the district re-assignment, echoed Ross’s concerns for accountability. One of his priorities would be student assignments and he believes that the board should look at more than just the numbers and look at transportation cost and not splitting up neighborhoods.

“Student assignment should be logical,”

stated Tim Morgan.

Both candidates seemed to agree that neighborhood schools were the way to go and that bussing was a thing of the past. When asked why they should be be considered by voters John Ross stated that his experience in managing people and dealing with regulatory issues on a daily basis more than qualified him for this position, stating that he “feels you must leave this world a little better than you found it”. Tim Morgan bases his extensive experience on local boards as the best reason to vote for him. “I have been through the battles” describing his tenure on various local boards “and I can stand up to an weather them, I will not lie to you.”

One thing is for sure both candidates are passionate about this position and when elected will have to answer to an equally passionate group of residents in the Thornhill neighborhood. Don’t forget to vote this Tuesday, polls open at 6:30am and close at 7:00pm.

caroline@ballantynescoop.com