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One divisive school-line decision behind it, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools begins the ticklish process of studying attendance zones for Eastover Elementary, and East Mecklenburg and Myers Park highs.
First off, Eastover, which the school district says needs quick help with overcrowding.
CMS will hold public meetings on the school's attendance lines Tuesday and Oct. 8. Both gatherings are at Myers Park High, 2400 Colony Road, and will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The East Meck-Myers Park lines will be discussed Oct. 1 during a two-hour meeting at East Meck, 6800 Monroe Road. A second two-hour session will be Oct. 6 at Myers Park. Both gatherings begin at 6:30 p.m.
The school district's staff hopes to finish a report on the school lines by Oct. 27. The school board is scheduled to vote on a plan Nov. 10, so that the lines can be put in place for the 2010 school year.
Tuesday night, the board jettisoned an option to move the Cotswold community into the East Meck zone from Myers Park.
The shuffled attendance lines associated with the opening of a new high school in Mint Hill will drop East Meck to about 1,500 students next year. Myers Park is already twice that size.
East Meck families say the reduced attendance will cost them teachers and hurt the academic program of a school fighting to keep middle-class families. They felt the redeployment of Cotswold would have restored enrollment and injected a new stream of energized families.
Costswold families opposed the move, saying they have built a successful learning community with Myers Park and Alexander Graham Middle.
Eastover has about 600 students this term, forcing the school to have classes in its auditorium. Among the options: having Eastover and Myers Park Traditional swap buildings or sending some Eastover kids to First Ward Elementary.
Either move figures to draw fire from families in the city's affluent Dilworth and Myers Park neighborhoods.
“This has been an incredibly divisive issue in our community,” school board Chair Molly Griffin said during Tuesday's meeting, “and I'm afraid it's not going to end tonight.”
