CMS is keeping 3 names alive for its new schools and introducing 1 new one
.png "Construction of the new CMS elementary school on Park Road in south Charlotte. It will be named Dilworth Elementary School.")
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has chosen names for four new schools that were part of its 2023 bond package. Three of the monikers are familiar, and one is brand new.
In 2023, Mecklenburg County voters passed a $2.5 billion bond referendum for 30 construction and renovation projects around the 186-school district. It was the largest public school district bond ever in North Carolina.
The bond, which passed with 63% of the vote in a low-turnout election, is expected to result in property tax increases in 2028 and 2029 in addition to an already implemented one in 2025.
Five of the projects are slated to finish in August, including an upgrading of the current Marie G. Davis IB World School into a Montessori program, opening a new elementary school campus on Park Road and unveiling a new middle school near Ballantyne. CMS board members voted Tuesday to approve proposed names for the campuses.
The new JT Williams Secondary Montessori
JT Williams in north Charlotte previously housed the district’s middle and high school Montessori program. As part of the bond, however, the current Marie G. Davis IB World School, located in southwest Charlotte, will be renovated to accommodate that program instead.
When the school reopens, it will bear the same name as the old Montessori campus: JT Williams Secondary Montessori.
“Dr. John Taylor (J.T.) Williams was a distinguished educator, physician, diplomat, and one of Charlotte’s most influential African American leaders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” district leaders stated in the agenda item approved by the board Tuesday. “Preserving this name ensures that future generations continue to recognize Dr. Williams’ pivotal role in Charlotte’s history.”
District leaders also noted that preserving the JT Williams name may promote consistency in school identity and simplify the management of transcripts from the school.
The school will keep its colors – orange and blue – and continue to have the “trailblazers” as its mascot, a district representative confirmed to The Charlotte Observer.
The new Dilworth Elementary School
CMS is opening a new 45-classroom elementary school off of Park Road in August, which will house students currently attending Dilworth Elementary School as well as some students currently zoned to Marie G. Davis and Selwyn Elementary in south Charlotte.
The new campus is located at the site of the former Park Road Montessori, about 10 minutes south of the current Dilworth Elementary site.
The school will have a different attendance boundary than the current Dilworth Elementary School does, but it will bear the same name. It will also retain green and navy blue as its colors and the mascot will also remain the same – the Dilworth Dragons.
The school is named for Edward Dilworth Latta, the developer who established the eponymous neighborhood it sits in.
Cato Ridge Middle School
An entirely new middle school will open in August, aimed at relieving overcrowding at Community House, Jay M. Robinson and Rea Farms STEAM middle schools. It will be named Cato Ridge Middle School and be located close to Ballantyne, just south of I-485 at Tom Short Road.
It’s the first of three new middle schools the district is planning with the 2023 bond, including others in Huntersville and southwest Mecklenburg County.
The name was “the result of a community survey and the consent of the school name advisory committee,” according to the agenda document presented to the CMS board on Tuesday.
Three name possibilities were presented to Superintendent Crystal Hill by CMS staff, in order of the school name advisory committee’s preference: Cato Trails Middle School, Cato Ridge Middle School and Ballantyne Trails Middle School. Hill selected the second option.
School colors and mascot haven’t been chosen, but the school’s principal, Jovana Edwards, is accepting community feedback in order to make selections.
The new Marie G. Davis Middle School
The Marie G. Davis name won’t be going by the wayside either. The district plans to place a middle school on the former site of Dilworth Elementary School in south Charlotte, though it won’t open in 2026.
“Marie G. Davis was a pioneering educator and community leader in Charlotte. She served as a teacher and later the principal of the Fairview School for 32 years, where she was known for her dedication to educational excellence and community service,” district leaders stated in the agenda item presented to the board. “Maintaining this legacy is vital to the Charlotte community.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
