CMS presents zoning options for new Park Road school. What parents should know

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill shared two school zoning options for a new elementary school on Park Road opening in August 2026.

The new 45-classroom elementary school will sit on the former site of Park Road Montessori.

Tuesday was a second chance for the school district to preview the recommendation after an initial reassignment plan caused some controversy last fall.

The vote for the student zoning was delayed after many parents and community members objected to a plan that would move around 100 elementary students at Marie G. Davis School in southwest Charlotte to the already overcrowded Dilworth Elementary for the 2025-26 school year.

All of the Dilworth Elementary and Marie G. Davis K-5 students would then move into the new Park Road campus when it is completed in fall 2026.

Due to pushback, Hill recommended delaying reassigning Marie G. Davis students until the new building is complete in 2026.

“I really believe this is in the best interest at this time for all of the schools involved, the students and the families,” said board member Lenora Shipp on Sept. 24, when Hill amended her recommendation. “And I’m pleased that we got to this recommendation.”

Hill presented the board with two options Tuesday for how to rezone students to the new facility upon its completion.

Option 1

Hill recommends the first option. Elementary school students currently zoned to Dilworth Elementary and Marie G. Davis would move to the new Park Road campus in August 2026. It would not involve rezoning any students from the nearby Selwyn Elementary School.

Students that currently attend Dilworth and Marie G. Davis out-of-zone would be reassigned to their home schools.

Current feeder patterns would remain the same. The district projects the new campus would open at about 85% capacity and reach 87% capacity after five years.

Students in sixth through eighth grade who are currently zoned to Marie G. Davis would be zoned to Sedgefield Middle School.

Option 2

The second option is similar to the first, except about 98 students currently zoned to Selwyn Elementary would be reassigned to the new Park Road campus.

The affected students are those who live on the western edge of the current attendance boundary, near the Park Road Shopping Center and Ashbrook neighborhood. However, current feeder patterns would remain the same.

This option would relieve overcrowding at Selwyn, bringing it from 97% full to 83%. However, it would decrease the room for future growth at the new Park Road campus, which is projected to be 97% full after five years under this option.

There will be a public hearing on the options at the regular board meeting June 5. The CMS Board of Education will vote on the plan June 26.

The school was part of the district’s record-breaking $2.5 billion bond referendum passed in November 2023. In total, the bond included 30 construction projects across the district.

This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

Rebecca Noel

The Charlotte Observer

Rebecca Noel reports on education for The Charlotte Observer. She’s a native of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Rice University. She later received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys reading, running and frequenting coffee shops around Charlotte.