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Every male African-American student who graduates from West Charlotte High School will receive a $1,000 college scholarship, thanks to a gift announced Wednesday by C.D. Spangler Jr.
Spangler, whose two daughters attended West Charlotte, said the Anthony Foxx Scholars Program is aimed at curbing the high dropout rate at the school, where more than half the male African-American students quit before graduation.
"We're not sure if it will work, but we'll give it a try," said Spangler, a construction magnate and the former president of the University of North Carolina system.
The $2 million scholarship fund - to be divided equally among Central Piedmont Community College and the UNC system - was part of more than $4.5million awarded by the Spangler Foundation to education-based programs.
Spangler also gave West Charlotte $50,000 to pay college application fees for any student - regardless of race or gender.
Spangler's donations included $1,000 for each of the 176 principals in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, to use as they see fit. Another big benefactor was Teach for America, which received $1.5million. Two years ago, Spangler gave the group $4million to put promising young teachers in high-poverty Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.
Spangler said he named the scholarship fund for Foxx, a West Charlotte High graduate who was elected Charlotte's mayor in November - but not personally for him.
"I told the mayor, 'This is not to honor you personally. This is to help motivate students to follow the lead you set.'"
Foxx said he was "moved beyond words" and added that the scholarships will show students, "If you reach up, there will be help to get your across the finish line."
C.D. and Meredith Spangler's two daughters are West Charlotte graduates, and Spangler said he spent the summer between his freshman and sophomore years in college helping build West Charlotte High. He sent his daughters to the school in the 1970s to help rally community support for court-ordered integration.
For decades, West Charlotte served as a nationwide symbol that integration worked. But after a judge stopped CMS's desegregation efforts a decade ago, the school slipped deep into poverty. Test scores plummeted.
"The dropout rate at West Charlotte is over 50 percent," Spangler said during a news conference to announce the gifts. "The dropout is in perpetual poverty for life. And that person also becomes a problem in the community - due to the cost of social support. We'll try this."
Despite recent improvements, West Charlotte annually is among the lowest-performing CMS high schools in state end-of-grade tests. More than 70 percent of its 1,700-plus students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, a measure of poverty.
Referring to the various donations announced by Spangler on Wednesday, UNC system President Erskine Bowles said: "These 11 gifts will help take people from the cradle to college. The Spanglers have made an investment in Charlotte."
CPCC President Tony Zeiss called the West Charlotte scholarships "an exciting experiment."
CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman, himself the recipient of $250,000 to help the school district, noted that the Spangler family "helped build the foundation of West Charlotte High."
"Now they are making sure the school grows."
