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The signs and placards at Tuesday's Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board meeting well illustrated the truth of chairwoman Molly Griffin's words: "This has been an incredibly divisive issue to our community." So divisive, noted at-large member Trent Merchant, that it has pitted brother against brother. "No, literally, there are brothers on opposing sides of this issue."
A Civil War over school assignment policies? Sadly, that's less of an exaggeration than you might think.
Some in this community believed such pitched battles would be a relic of the past, after CMS lost its fight to keep federally mandated desegregation policies in place - policies that used race as a factor in assigning students to schools. But that was always pie-in-the-sky thinking.
For years, the student population in CMS grew explosively. This year is an anomaly. For the first time in at least 15 years, the school system shows a decline (slight as it is) in student population.
But the trailers - excuse me, mobile classrooms - that still pack school lots across Mecklenburg County attest to the past robust growth. They also highlight this community's failure to construct or find enough school buildings to accommodate that growth.
Part of the problem was a political power struggle between school leaders and Mecklenburg County commissioners - who help fund CMS and must agree to put school bond issues on the ballot for voter approval. But squabbles and ideological differences among school board members, parents and others in the public also stalled progress.
Now there's a backlog of facility needs. As new schools are built to relieve crowded schools countywide, boundary lines will change as decisions are made on who attends those schools. And unless a pot of money falls from the sky - or Mecklenburg taxpayers agree to a hefty tax increase - CMS won't be able to build a school in every neighborhood, so the "home schools" of some students won't be that close to home.
Some out-of-the-box thinking would be welcome about now on these issues. The East Mecklenburg High/Myers Park High controversy won't be the last battle over these matters. Another group of parents and students on Tuesday also were armed with signs to take sides over plans to relieve crowding at Eastover Elementary. One option officials offered had Eastover less crowded but still over capacity. That didn't ease minds about the school system's ability to devise thoughtful proposals.
Options offered for dealing with the Myers Park/East Meck situation don't appear particularly well-thought or creative either. CMS created the East Meck situation when officials decided who would attend a new school to open in Mint Hill next year. More than 600 students will be taken from East Meck to help populate the new school. That unexpected - at least for parents and students - and dramatic drop in student population will result in about 30 fewer teachers, and possibly fewer course offerings. No plans were made to address those possibly negative impacts.
After concerns were raised, school officials offered as an option to change the boundaries so a student group zoned for overcrowded Myers Park would attend East Meck. But that move wouldn't solve either Myers Park's overcrowding nor East Meck's huge student loss. East Meck's population is expected to drop to less than 1,500 from 2,100 next year. This move would net it about 125 students. Myers Park's loss would be about 200. That's not even a drop in the bucket in easing crowding at a 3,000-student school.
The continued success of East Meck, if it does lose 600 students, should not be left to the vagaries of fate. Other school systems nationwide are offering creative solutions to smaller school challenges. One suggestion is pairing schools, and bringing teachers - virtually (via computer) or in person - to teach a course another school lacks.
Crowding at Myers Park should be dealt with separately. It deserves its own focus if officials are truly serious about bringing it down in size.
CMS has planned public discussions on these issues over the next few weeks. I hope innovative and creative ideas come out of them.
"Civil War" is a bad way to tackle problems that affect this community's children. It's time to take off the war paint and remember that.
