The return to neighborhood schools hasn't ended fights about student assignment in Charlotte.
As noted in today's Charlotte Observer, student assignment is a major factor in next month's Charlotte-Mecklenburg school boards elections. Fights over boundary lines for new schools brought hundreds of people to school district meetings and intensified interest in the elections.
Charlotte still uses diversity as a factor, albeit not a major one, in assigning students to neighborhood schools. Some candidates say CMS should "stop juggling demographics and create stable boundaries that reflect neighborhoods and communities."
But at least one candidate thinks CMS needs to do more to promote diversity.
Comments
Disparity drives fighting
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 09:20 — user12345If all the schools are equivalent such that no one is better than another than the amount of fighting to get in one over another should diminish. The level of fighting is a measure of the perceived disparity between what should be equivalent offerings.
Hmm...
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 13:46 — Bob_SconceAre you talking about the contests to get into magnet schools?
It's impossible for two schools to be equivalent, if for no other reason than they're staffed by unique individuals, sit on unique pieces of land and have individually unique students. Further, even if it were possible to make all schools equivalent, do we really want a one-size-fits-all approach?
user--I don't know if I
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 09:41 — jenmanuser--I don't know if I would attribrute it all to that. My neighborhood was recently reassigned to a new high school (to open next year). We were moved there because of diversity. My first objection to the move is the distance. The drive now takes about 5-10 minutes and the new school will be 20-30 minutes. We can hear our current high school's football games and marching band practices from our house. The new school isn't in my community at all and that is my main objection.
I understand … hopefully
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 11:06 — user12345I understand … hopefully arguing over which school is closer is restricted to a few people along the boundary line which ultimately gets settled with some administrative ruling once and for all … ultimately, since our schools are not located equal centric from every neighborhood someone will be disadvantaged … we see that in Western Wake where people living near a new school on the eastside are displaced by new neighborhoods on the west side which are further away.
Actually CMS's "return to
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 08:04 — sstarksActually CMS's "return to neighborhood schools" (which in reality are community schools) did pretty much end major assignment battles in Mecklenburg County. Yes, there were issues over exactly where boundary lines should be drawn--that will always be the case. But with our change in assignment policies came a change in how the assignment process was conducted. From the very beginning of the planning process for new schools boundaries were carefully considered and the communities involved were fully engaged. Gone were the huge assignment "hearings" which pitted neighborhood against neighborhood and created angst for parents and students throughout the city. Gone were last minute assignment changes that took families unaware. However, recently one school board member began to push for a return to using diversity as an assignment driver. This created a furor during the assignment process for our newest high school and that furor has continued to spread, as one school after another has been dragged into the fray.
The majority of school board candidates (and the community) have rejected this "return to the past." However, the pro-busing crowd in Charlotte pushes on, seemingly caring little about the furor and uncertainty they have created in the community. Interestingly, our high poverty kids are making demonstrable progress under our current assignment plan and school facilities throughout the county are much improved. Again, this doesn't seem to matter to the pro-busing folks.