School Construction (Charlotte, Matthews, Marvin: homes, neighborhoods, best schools)

[Jake Ryan]

Help me out with this. I live over by Old Lancaster Highway & Marvin Rd where they are building the new Elementary School. I've noticed in the past few years that when they have a new school, that within a year or two they have the "Trailers" put in the lot in order to handle the load of all the students.

Now, looking at the new school which has been built to open next year, I think to myself, why didn't they build a bigger school in anticipation of the large number of students? It just doesn't seem like they built it as big as they should have. Even if they open it and don't use the whole building at first....

Maybe I just think differently, but as a future parent whose child will most likely attend this school I just don't see the logic of building a small building school.

[Charlottean]

I live right by it as well. It's amazing how fast they are putting it up!

It looks pretty big to me compared to Endhaven and Hawk Ridge but maybe I'm wrong.

[Jake Ryan]

It may look big, but look at all the land they have. Why wouldn't they plan for the future since overcrowding seems to be an issue.

All this talk about bonds and money, rather than building school after school when they decided they don't have enough room and bringing in all of these trailers, you would think they would make the best use of the land and just build the schools big.

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by Jake Ryan

Help me out with this. I live over by Old Lancaster Highway & Marvin Rd where they are building the new Elementary School. I've noticed in the past few years that when they have a new school, that within a year or two they have the "Trailers" put in the lot in order to handle the load of all the students.

Now, looking at the new school which has been built to open next year, I think to myself, why didn't they build a bigger school in anticipation of the large number of students? It just doesn't seem like they built it as big as they should have. Even if they open it and don't use the whole building at first....

Maybe I just think differently, but as a future parent whose child will most likely attend this school I just don't see the logic of building a small building school.

Here's the thing: When the bond is proposed CMS tends to forcast what they need right now, instead of what they will need in the long run. Unfortunately, there is significant overcrowding and CMS is going to be playing catch up for a long time to come. I agree with you, however, that it does not seem logical. That is why I have decided to put my child in private school for the upcoming school year as last year she attended a brand new school and this year she is being taught in a trailer alongside 12 other trailers as the school is overcrowded. She has 29 students in her class and she is only in second grade. Doesn't give me much hope that these issues will be fixed anytime soon.

[moedog]

The new policy of the CMS board is to build smaller elementary schools. Of course, this is partly to assure that the newer schools have little chance of being diverse, since they only serve the immediate neighborhood. In the case of the Johnston Rd/Lancaster Highway area, they are building TWO new elementary schools to open next fall. The other new school is being built on Lancaster Highway, just across from the Providence Pointe neighborhood. The two new schools are only about a half mile apart. The funny thing about the new Elon Park Elementary is that it is already in existence---quartered in a new building on Sandy Porter Road near 485, in a new building which was intended to be a neighborhood school for the Stone Creek Ranch neighborhood. Rather ironic, I would say, that a school system so opposed to "busing" that they refuse to transport students to underutilized schools closer to uptown in order to reduce overcrowding, but see no problem in "busing" between neighborhoods in the outer suburbs.

[Charlottean]

29 students in one class is too much? That was pretty much the average in all of mine through the South Charlotte system as I grew up.

We had trailers galore back then... Schools were Selwyn, Beverly Woods, Carmel Junior, and Myers Park High.

[NCDave]

Originally Posted by nkjaws

Here's the thing: When the bond is proposed CMS tends to forcast what they need right now, instead of what they will need in the long run.

CMS is well aware that schools are overcrowded and have a 10 year plan for school construction. They can only build what the County Commissioners and voters give them. Although voters approved a record bond in November, it's barely enough to keep up with the growth. CMS had asked for more.

Originally Posted by moedog

...The funny thing about the new Elon Park Elementary is that it is already in existence---quartered in a new building on Sandy Porter Road near 485, in a new building which was intended to be a neighborhood school for the Stone Creek Ranch neighborhood...

Elon Park elementary is operating at the site of "Flat Branch Elementary" at11830 Tom Short Road for the 2007-08 School Year. Sandy Porter Road is over in Steele Creek.

[njmdpanc]

So why in the Observer today did they report that Crestdale Elem School in Matthews can't fill their seats? It is one of the best schools in the CMS system.

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by moedog

The new policy of the CMS board is to build smaller elementary schools. Of course, this is partly to assure that the newer schools have little chance of being diverse, since they only serve the immediate neighborhood. In the case of the Johnston Rd/Lancaster Highway area, they are building TWO new elementary schools to open next fall. The other new school is being built on Lancaster Highway, just across from the Providence Pointe neighborhood. The two new schools are only about a half mile apart. The funny thing about the new Elon Park Elementary is that it is already in existence---quartered in a new building on Sandy Porter Road near 485, in a new building which was intended to be a neighborhood school for the Stone Creek Ranch neighborhood. Rather ironic, I would say, that a school system so opposed to "busing" that they refuse to transport students to underutilized schools closer to uptown in order to reduce overcrowding, but see no problem in "busing" between neighborhoods in the outer suburbs.

I would have to say that your ideas seem off to me. The new policy of cms to build smaller elementary schools is not b/c they do not want them to be diverse. I don't know where you live in Charlotte but are you not familiar with CMS and their history with desegregation?
The Background of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District enrolls more than 125,000 students in almost 150 schools. The district's ethnic makeup is 38% Anglo, 43% African American, 12% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 3% American Indian/multiracial (CMS Fast Facts, 2006). In the past, the district was one of the nation's most integrated school systems. The historic 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (2) decision ordered that every school's ethnic makeup should mirror closely the proportions of African American and non-African American students in the district. CMS used mandatory busing to achieve that outcome. Although Charlotte showed that busing for integration could be peaceful, the community's acceptance of busing declined over time as the community experienced rapid immigration from the Northeast and Midwest. (3) In response to this declining acceptance of mandatory busing, CMS changed its assignment policy in 1992. The district reduced the number of students subjected to mandatory busing by creating a large managed choice program that revolved around magnet schools (Smith & Mickelson, 2000). As a result, after 1992, one-third of CMS schools became either full or partial magnets, and each magnet had a quota of Anglo and African American students.

Despite the reduction in mandatory busing, a group of parents sued to end court-ordered desegregation. (4) CMS opposed the lifting of the court order, but the courts declared CMS a unitary system, directed the school district to allow students to attend their neighborhood schools, and ordered CMS to discontinue using race or ethnicity in school assignment (Smith, 2004). CMS complied by adopting an assignment policy that took effect in the fall of 2002. The policy divides the district into four large attendance zones, each containing some neighborhoods that are predominantly African American and some that are predominantly Anglo. Students could choose either their "home school," which generally was the school closest to their residence, (5) or any other school in CMS. Students received free transportation only to schools in the same zone as their home school and to districtwide magnet schools.

Also, I am unsure where you live in Charlotte, but my neighborhood of 1,000 homes is extremely diverse and we live in a upper middle class neighborhood. Our elementary school which will be completed in 2009 will be very diverse.

[solnechko]

Crestdale is a middle school, not an elementary, and the Observer's article clearly pointed out why the school is not full -- or overcrowded. It's one of the best middle schools, not one of the best schools overall. The Observer says it's one of the top five middle schools in CMS; that doesn't say much.