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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 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Myers Park High, 2400 Colony Road.
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 begin at 6:30 p.m.
The school district staff hopes to finish a report by Oct. 27. The school board plans to vote on a plan Nov. 10, so the lines can be put in place for the 2010-11 school year.
Tuesday night, the board jettisoned an option to move the Cotswold Elementary community into the East Meck zones from Myers Park.
The shuffled attendance lines associated with opening 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 say redeploying Cotswold would have restored enrollment and injected a new stream of energized families.
Cotswold families opposed moving to East Meck and McClintock Middle, 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."
