1 year after record bond, CMS is on a construction tour. Here’s the latest on 3 schools
Nearly a year after voters approved a record-setting package of school construction projects, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is touring the county with updates about some of the first ones on its to-do list.
CMS passed two bond packages in 2017 and 2023 to pay for building upgrades totaling over $3.4 billion across 59 projects. The 2023 proposal by itself, at $2.5 billion, set a record for a public school district bond in North Carolina. Only South Mecklenburg High School and some work at Northwest School of the Arts remain on the list of projects from 2017.
Many 2023 bond projects, including at First Ward Creative Arts Academy and a brand new middle school near Ballantyne, are just getting under way.
CMS held meetings over the last month to update families on its progress. Here’s the latest on those projects.
South Mecklenburg High School
South Mecklenburg High School was built in 1958, and this project involves a replacement of all but three buildings on campus. Construction begins in summer 2025 and ends in spring 2028.
The project is slightly ahead of schedule, with architects finishing designs and heading into the permitting and regulatory process.
The new campus will have four buildings instead of the 11 there now, architect Tom Gragnano told community members at a meeting in September. Three of the newer buildings on campus will remain.
“We don’t tear buildings down unless we absolutely have to,” he said. “It’s a safer environment any time you can go from 11 buildings to a smaller footprint with better visibility and areas that are easier to survey.”
The new campus will include 100 total classrooms and two controlled access points as is the standard for all high schools in CMS. Outdoor athletic facilities will be renovated, with the track expanded to eight lanes and new synthetic turf fields. Students will use the school’s current academic buildings until the new facility is available in summer 2027. After that, old buildings will be demolished.
Construction will disrupt athletics.
The football stadium will be usable during the 2025 fall season — but not the 2026 season. The new baseball and softball facilities will not be available until fall 2026.
In the meantime, home games will be held at E.E. Waddell High School, CMS Executive Director of Facilities Management Dennis LaCaria said at the meeting.
First Ward Creative Arts Academy
The school in uptown – currently First Ward Elementary – is transitioning into an arts magnet middle school as part of the 2023 bond. Middle school students who currently attend Northwest School of the Arts will move to First Ward Creative Arts Academy next fall, while Northwest School of the Arts will serve only high school students.
The location was partly chosen because of its proximity to cultural and arts offerings, including the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, the Mint Museum and the Belk Theater.
“This is going to enhance the arts program and the middle school as a whole,” Julie Driscoll, a project manager with Boomerang Design, told community members at a meeting Oct. 10.
More than 400 students attend middle school at Northwest School of the Arts. The new location will have capacity for 700 to 750 students, LaCaria said.
Construction is set to begin in summer 2025 and finish in August 2026. Middle school arts magnet students will attend classes on the campus while construction is ongoing. Some parents said they were concerned about construction noise disrupting music and theater programs at the school.
“We work on occupied campuses and in occupied schools all the time. This is not new or unique to First Ward, so there are expectations we have of the designers and of the contractors who are doing the work,” LaCaria said. “So, we will make sure that we are honoring everything that needs to be done over the course of the academic day.”
He said community members knew about the timeline before they approved the bond last year.
New middle school
The school is intended to relieve overcrowding at Community House Middle School, Jay M. Robinson Middle School and Rea Farms STEAM K-8 near Ballantyne. It’s funded by the 2023 bond referendum and hasn’t been named yet.
The construction is taking place on 20 acres alongside a new private development off Tom Short Road, near Providence Road and I-485.
The three-floor, 136,000 square-foot building will have 54 classrooms and hold around 1,200 students, architects Gary Lang and Katie Nichols told community members at a meeting Oct. 24.
It will have a football field, track, baseball and softball fields — all with synthetic turf.
“That way, we can play on them a lot more often than if they were natural grass,” Lang said.
Construction will start in mid-November and is slated to finish in July 2026. CMS plans to welcome students to the new facility in fall 2026.
Some changes will be made to the often-congested intersection of Tom Short Road and Ardrey Kell Road in order to mitigate further congestion, but much of it will be done by the private developer working around the site, not CMS, said LaCaria.
Things like the bell schedule and mascot haven’t been determined yet, and a principal hasn’t been selected. LaCaria didn’t offer specifics about when that selection would happen, but he said it would be well in advance of the school opening.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
