Amid school gun crisis, CMS delayed spending millions set aside for safety
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Guns found in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
In the first few months of the 2021-22 school year, CMS has set a concerning new record for guns being brought to campuses.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools waited to spend $4.6 million earmarked for security upgrades over a two-year period, despite dozens of weapons being found on campuses during that time.
Although CMS has since spent a majority of the money, the issue looms large as the school district now urgently addresses a crisis of weapons and violence in schools this year.
One parent at a November school board meeting chastised CMS leaders, referencing the money allocated in Mecklenburg County’s fiscal year 2019 budget for school security, half of which went untouched from late 2018 to at least December 2020, the Observer has learned.
“We know it’s not for lack of money because you were given millions of dollars for security with nothing to show for it. I wonder what the cost of a life is,” said parent Sara Holland, who has a freshman at Hopewell High. On Nov. 3, two pistols were found on Hopewell’s campus.
The most recent case of a gun on campus happened Monday when a pistol was fired at West Charlotte High during a fight outside the school over a bookbag.
While several new measures for security enhancements are in the works in CMS — like mandatory clear backpacks at high schools, an anonymous reporting tool for students, and increasing the frequency of screening students for weapons — purchasing and implementation could take weeks or, in some cases, months.
Now some parents and elected officials are criticizing what they see as too slow of a response in the past from the school district.
CMS points to a failed panic alarm system — one that the Observer reported at the time district staff warned didn’t work as expected — as the reason county commissioners last year had to grant an extension on nearly $4.6 million of $9.2 million previously set aside. But budget documents suggest would-be spending on the system was only a portion of the previously unused $4.6 million.
The Observer asked CMS officials this week about the delay but got no response. Superintendent Earnest Winston was in his current position for about one year during this time period. Former superintendent Clayton Wilcox, who resigned under pressure in 2019, had requested the $9.2 million from Mecklenburg County’s budget.
During a Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday, chairman George Dunlap referenced the “substantial amount of money” the county has given CMS for security.
“In fact, the last security program they invested in did not work and they were supposed to get the money back,” Dunlap said. “So I don’t know if they were successful or not. We need to have their proposal evaluated by someone we trust, to make sure that it is in fact, the right proposal, because that’s happened at least twice since I’ve been here.”
From teachers to parents, and from school and community leaders to police, all stakeholders lately have renewed urgency on the issue of safety in schools. But it’s hardly a new issue.
Guns in schools
While the number of guns found in the first three months of the school year is much higher than in years past, many Charlotte public schools have long been rattled by escalating fights and the presence of guns. And mass shootings and other violence in school buildings nationwide in recent years influenced Mecklenburg County’s decision to provide extra money in 2013 and 2018 for improvements at CMS.
During the time the county-allocated money went unused, district leaders resisted putting metal detectors in more school buildings, were embarrassed by the revelation a key security system they touted was in fact inoperable much of the time, and gun violence among teens outside the school day was growing in Charlotte.
“I wished that when the first guns were found, the violence happened and fights ensued that they would have started a process to talk to law enforcement leaders throughout the county to discuss options and get feedback,” said Mecklenburg commissioner Pat Cotham.
“Previous superintendents rushed into security expenditures without getting them vetted, and money was not used well. I would hope they would have a process to find security experts who focus on keeping schools safe and have proven results. I want the taxpayer dollars to be used thoughtfully and responsibly.”
Spending on security
Mecklenburg County commissioners approved in mid-2018, in response to a fatal mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school, a one-time allocation of $9.2 million to CMS. That came just months before a deadly shooting at Butler High School. Half was allocated in June; the other in October.
Over the next two years, according to public records, CMS spent the first half — on video surveillance equipment, electronic locks, metal detection equipment, a gun detection canine and a crisis alert system.
But the other half of the money wasn’t spent yet, and the Board of County Commissioners approved in December 2020 an amendment to the budget that allowed CMS to use the money in fiscal year 2021.
Adrian Cox, the county’s budget director, said the district explained that the funding wasn’t utilized “due to challenges encountered with the crisis alert security system project.” The Observer reported in February 2020 that CMS ended its relationship with Centegix, the company behind the crisis alert system that the district purchased for $1.75 million because features of the system were unreliable or non-functional.
In late 2020, school leaders pitched security enhancements they would purchase using the $4.6 million it didn’t spend the year prior. Those included replacing cameras and camera servers, enhancing video doorbells to eight schools so personnel can see and control the access of visitors, expanding electronic locks and badge readers and upgrading or replacing the exterior doors at the high schools.
Leaders also proposed spending $500,000 on building signs for first responders, $360,000 for a district emergency command center and $150,000 on cyber disaster planning.
But the district still didn’t spend the balance.
Cox said at the end of fiscal year 2021, CMS hadspent all but $271,566 of the total allocation.
“Because these are annual allocations, the unspent funding is no longer available to be spent by CMS,” he said.
In November, after 13 guns and dozens of weapons had been found on CMS campuses, Commissioner Vilma Leake requested information from Cox on how much money the county had given to CMS last year and this year for school security.
“Look to three years ago at Butler High School,” Leake told the Observer. “It’s been happening, and I’m worried for our children every day. You don’t wait until the problem happens. You talk about it before it starts.”
CMS uses $790,000 annually from the county for school resource officers and two positions that oversee law enforcement in the district: chief of police and deputy chief of police.
Cox said the county’s fiscal year 2022 budget includes $4.96 million “that could be used by CMS for additional investments in security upgrades, such as wands and other enhancements,” but it is not specifically allocated for security.
Holland, the parent from Hopewell High, says she feels children are unsafe. Winston, as recently as this week, combated that notion that schools are unsafe, saying he has his own children in CMS buildings and believes schools are a safe environment.
Last month, the district purchased 46,000 clear backpacks totaling nearly $441,791. Officials said they may take until February to be delivered.
Patrick Smith, the assistant superintendent of communications, told the Observer that right now only high school students will receive the backpacks because of supply challenges.
But Holland questions how previous and current administrators are addressing problems.
“ ... (It’s) something we warned you was going to happen,” she said on Nov. 9.
“Clear backpacks, metal detectors, dads being present at school, I actually suggested this over the summer. Parent support groups with help with home life. Student programs for the most at-risk youth .... Why haven’t you implemented any of these things when this is such an issue?”
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 10:10 AM.
