Stop or go for CMS boundary plan? Find out Tuesday at school board meeting

The burning question for many families and community leaders – is Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools ready to move forward with school boundary changes? – is likely to be settled at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

But the board will discuss an even weightier matter a few hours earlier, at a special afternoon session. Members will spend 2.5 hours talking about equity, the quest to make sure all students have a fair shot at an excellent education.

The goal is to make sure all schools have what they need to do the job, from strong faculty to up-to-date technology, and to ensure that schools with the neediest students get extra help. The board is discussing policy changes that would require the district to monitor high-quality teaching and rigorous instruction, as well as easier-to-quantify measures such as books and buildings.

Brian Perkins, director of the urban education leadership program at Columbia University, will facilitate that discussion, which takes place from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 267 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St. Perkins also led last year’s board retreat, which was focused on the superintendent search that ended this month with the hiring of Clayton Wilcox.

At 6 p.m., the board holds its regular meeting in the same location, with student assignment as the main agenda item.

The board’s assignment review, which started in 2015, has fueled hope and anxiety as district leaders look for ways to increase diversity and break up concentrations of disadvantage while giving families choices and protecting successful programs. The first phase culminated with the approval of a revised magnet plan in November.

The board’s timeline calls for intensive work over the next five months to lay the groundwork for revising neighborhood school boundaries, with changes taking effect in 2018-19. Superintendent Ann Clark is moving ahead with that plan; the district has announced a series of public engagement meetings that will start Thursday at Ardrey Kell High School.

But two weeks ago board members clashed over that timeline. Board Chair Mary McCray and two other members say the district needs more time to make sure the new magnet plan is working well, plan a 2017 bond campaign and make the transition from Clark to Wilcox before diving into such a major task. Two other members said a delay would erode public confidence and could doom a bond vote.

McCray has said Tuesday’s meeting will provide an opportunity for the board to decide whether to move forward or put the review on hold.

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Stop or go for CMS boundary plan? Find out Tuesday at school board meeting."