South Charlotte parents complain of needles, trespassing at building feet from school
Parents at a CMS magnet school say there’s debris, drug paraphernalia and people trespassing at an abandoned building next to the school, raising student safety concerns.
School district officials said they’re taking steps to address it.
Collinswood Language Academy in south Charlotte serves grades K-8 next to the former Smith Family Center on the same piece of land. CMS closed the Smith Center in 2021 due to health concerns after the structure was found to contain asbestos. Initial plans to sell the property and demolish the structure never came to fruition.
Collinswood parents went to the building two weeks ago and observed needles and debris and, later, captured a video of people exiting the building one morning. Due to the building’s proximity to Collinswood – about 40 feet away – they lodged complaints with CMS about safety concerns.
Last week, “CMS Police and CMS Building Services completed a joint interior walk-through to confirm the building was vacated and to evaluate additional steps needed to strengthen site security,” a district spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer.
CMS installed “No Trespassing” signs on the property and increased CMS police patrols of the property to twice daily, along with daily checks by the district’s building services team.
“In response to community concerns, the public is asked to avoid entering the property while this work is underway,” a district spokesperson said. “We are working diligently with county and city partners to further address this matter.”
While CMS is reviewing sale and demolition options, it hasn’t made any official plans, nor given a specific timeline.
“We anticipate completing this evaluation phase in the coming months and will provide additional updates as timelines are finalized,” the spokesperson said.
Parents are relieved CMS took action, but they’re hoping for news of more long-term solutions.
“We are pleased with the progress and are hopeful that it continues,” Collinswood parent Gerry McGillicuddy said.
However, McGillicuddy noted, a small group of parents has been raising similar concerns for a number of years.
“It’s very reaffirming to see how swiftly CMS has gathered around the issues that we’ve raised about the property,” Ross Glynn, the parent of a first and third-grader at Collinswood, told the Observer. “That being said... I think where we’re hoping to see the focus go is really towards the longer-term solution, which we believe ultimately will result in the demolition of that building.”
Glynn said parents have been reaching out to local organizations that help support people experiencing homelessness, some of whom may have been living in the abandoned building and later removed.
This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM.