CMS magnet plan sparks debate with Mecklenburg County commissioners

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ plan to use socioeconomic status in awarding coveted seats in magnet schools sparked a spirited debate Thursday in a joint meeting with county commissioners.

CMS wants to break up the pockets of poverty in schools that often parallel low academic performance. Superintendent Ann Clark said the new plan will increase options among magnet schools and the mix of students from different income levels.

“Our community is crying out for solutions,” said school board member Elyse Dashew. “I think this is an ideal way that we can work toward solutions.”

Commissioner George Dunlap, a former school board member, said he was encouraged by the CMS goals. “If that's what we truly believe in, then don't be pressured to change it, because there will be pressure,” he told CMS members.

But commissioner Jim Puckett, another school board veteran, blasted the plan for a “horrible lack of leadership.” He predicted high-performing students will move elsewhere and that the plan will do nothing to improve the odds a poor student will someday escape poverty.

“This strikes me as being more marketing than education,” Puckett said. “This is an admission of failure, which is the first sign that you're not getting the results you wanted.”

School board Chair Mary McCray said a recent CMS visit to Miami showed new magnet schools, increased funding and buy-in by state and local governments.

“They have the money to do it and the fortitude to do it,” she said. “That is something as three governing bodies we have got to take a look at – a three-pronged stool of the board of education, city council and county commission.”

Surplus property

The two boards also discussed the sale of surplus CMS property, a subject that last month left county commissioners with an awkward decision.

CMS recently compiled a list of 158 surplus acres that could be sold to the city for affordable housing sites or to developers with the proceeds going for local government capital needs.

Mecklenburg County has the first right of refusal to surplus CMS property. Lobbied by neighbors of Sedgefield Middle School, commissioners reluctantly agreed to take a 3-acre tract off the surplus list.

Now neighbors of other schools are pressing the county not to sell surplus property near them.

The county wants CMS to get more feedback from the public about the fate of its surplus property. CMS says it’s not in the land business.

Commissioners’ Chair Trevor Fuller said he will ask the CMS board, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the mayors of Mecklenburg County’s six towns to jointly meet by year’s end to more clearly hash out their respective roles.

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 7:25 PM with the headline "CMS magnet plan sparks debate with Mecklenburg County commissioners."