Taking A Bite Out Of CMS; 11 Schools To Close Next Year
Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Board of Education meeting Tuesday night to consider closing nearly a dozen schools and bring wholesale upheaval to dozens more started and ended with heated protests, accusations of racism, and often exasperated board members struggling with weighty decisions that all agreed provided no pleasant options.
When the dust had settled, after a meeting that stretched longer than five hours, one protestor had been arrested, another carted away by ambulance, more than 100 public speakers each had their two minutes to be heard, and a fractious board of education had voted to move forward with some of the most controversial aspects of what school officials are calling the district’s case for continuous improvement.
In a series of separate motions that often sparked divisive debate and split votes, the board set the stage to close a total of 11 schools, consolidate students and programs at five more, expand eight elementary schools to serve K-8 students, create a school that serves grades 6-12, and adjust student assignment boundaries for 13 schools. A majority of the changes will take place for the upcoming 2011-12 school year.
The board voted 5-4 to close E.E. Waddell High School, which will see its students scattered to South Mecklenburg, West Mecklenburg, and West Charlotte. Part and parcel of the plan, Smith Language Academy will also close, with its students and programs filling the empty space at Waddell. Harding University High School, which until Monday was targeted to close, will remain open as a home school with an I.B. magnet, but its popular math and science magnet programs will be moved to Phillip O. Berry High School.
Board members Joe White, Kaye McGarry, Rhonda Lennon, Tim Morgan, and board chair Eric Davis supported the Waddell/Smith/Harding shuffle; members Trent Merchant, Richard McElrath, Tom Tate and Joyce Waddell voted against.
“I believe that we’re drawing a school that has very limited chance at success,” Merchant said, “and that’s too high of a price for me.”
He argued that the board should delay a vote on the Harding/Waddell/Smith issue and look instead to “expand our geographic area for consideration” to include a review of boundary changes for all high schools and middle schools.
McElrath expressed a similar sentiment. He said previous decisions made by CMS had created clusters of high-poverty, minority schools that are under capacity and low performing. Yet now, he said, low utilization rates and low academic performance were the two main criteria being used to justify closing largely high-poverty, minority schools.
“This may be more about what we’ve done in the past than what we’re doing now,” McElrath said.
Tuesday’s meeting got off to a rocky start, when the board rejected a motion supported by McElrath and Waddell to delay voting on any of the proposed changes.
“That’s a racist vote,” shouted one audience member. Others followed suit, chanting “No justice, no peace.” Less than fifteen minutes into the meeting, a recess was called as police escorted protestors from the chamber.
One woman collapsed on the steps, with police half-carrying her out, and later was taken away by ambulance. Another woman was arrested for disorderly conduct, shouting, “Fight for your children,” as police led her away in handcuffs.
Charlotte NAACP President Kojo Nantambu, who showed up late for the meeting and was denied entrance because the main chamber was already at capacity, led a group of protestors that overflowed into the Government Center’s lobby and chanted, “Push back the date,” encouraging a delay on the vote.
Inside the main chamber, public speakers barraged the board and Superintendent Peter Gorman with concerns and complaints about the schools closing plan, which they said unfairly and disproportionately impacted poor and minority students.
“The case for comprehensive review is the poster child for inequity,” said Harding parent Ericka Ellis-Stewart. “This plan gives the board of education and the superintendent carte blanche to balance the district’s budget on the backs of children, particularly those who are black and brown.”
Former city council candidate and community activist Darryl Bonaparte warned the board that by moving forward with its plans, CMS was “about to wake a sleeping giant called the civil rights movement.”
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