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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board was divided Tuesday over how to relieve crowding at Eastover Elementary and whether East Mecklenburg High needs more students next year.
The only clear consensus: Members aren't willing to raid Harding High to provide East Meck more students.
“The voice was heard loudly and clearly from the energized and active parents” at last week's Harding High meeting, said board Chair Molly Griffin. Parents at that meeting hammered district officials for proposing to move math/science magnet students from Harding, which is much smaller than East will be next year.
On Tuesday, officials offered new information about how hard-hit East Meck will be by next year's opening of a new high school in Mint Hill. The latest staff plan would let seniors stay in 2010-11 and keep their bus transportation, even if they're in neighborhoods that have been rezoned for other schools. That could bring enrollment to about 1,600, compared with previous estimates of 1,400 to 1,500. Current enrollment is about 2,100.
Superintendent Peter Gorman said new calculations show East would lose about 16 teachers, rather than the 30 to 37 that CMS officials and East Meck backers have earlier cited.
Three members – Joe White, Trent Merchant and Ken Gjertsen – said they still want to reassign International Baccalaureate magnet students in 2010-11.
“Magnets are intended to be a carrot that attracts kids to where you have room for them,” said White. He said Myers Park High, with almost 3,000 students, is too large for a magnet.
It wasn't clear whether the three have support to push that plan in two weeks, when the board is expected to wrap up three months of controversy over moving elementary and high school students. The absence of Kimberly Mitchell-Walker, who recently pulled out of her campaign because of health problems, raises the prospect of a 4-4 split if she also misses the final meeting Nov. 10.
The board appears to be going back to the drawing board on plans for Eastover Elementary, with five members raising objections Tuesday to the staff plan unveiled Monday.
“I'm not sure this is the right plan. I'm not sure the numbers work. I think we've got some work to do,” Griffin said. Board members Larry Gauvreau, James Ross, Tom Tate and Kaye McGarry also voiced skepticism or outright rejection of the plan to turn Dilworth Elementary into a neighborhood school and make First Ward Elementary an arts magnet. The Dilworth neighborhood school would take half of Eastover's current zone.
Merchant, White and Gjertsen voiced tepid support for that plan. Gjertsen noted that few of the critics made it clear what changes they want.
“If you're going to throw it out, make sure you have something else to offer,” Gjertsen said.
Gauvreau said CMS should move some Eastover students to the nearby Billingsville Elementary, which is underfilled.
Since the board's Aug. 11 vote to look at moving students from Myers Park to East Mecklenburg High, hundreds have packed board meetings and community forums. As of this week, the staff has abandoned all efforts to move neighborhood or magnet students out of Myers Park.
But White, a retired educator, said he's ready to move all the IB magnet students except those who live in Myers Park's attendance zone.
“Folks, I spent a lifetime in public schools,” White said, “Unless you can clone King Kong and make him an assistant principal, 3,000 students is too large.”
The latest staff plan calls for creating a math-science program at East in 2010-11, but that program would not be a magnet. Officials acknowledge it would do little to immediately bolster enrollment, but say it would help prepare students for high-tech careers.
Many members said that plan sounds promising, but other efforts may be needed.
Happy or unhappy, none of the school backers are letting up until the vote. Dozens turned out, some lining up two hours early, to monitor Tuesday's meeting, even though no public comments were taken.
