Tagged: CMS

This week about 2,200 elementary school kids will be getting free laptops.  It’s part of the Project LIFT effort to boost learning at nine schools on Charlotte’s west side. 

These laptops are made for kids.  They’re white and green and sturdy. 

“It has the handles so it wouldn’t fall when I’m holding it because I really drop stuff without handles,” said Maya Dunbar, a third grader at Allenbrook Elementary. 

Kids are half-way through the school year and no doubt talk of end of year tests has already come up in class.  There are some big changes in store for students across the state.  For one, there will be a lot more end of year tests and they won’t just be multiple choice.  They’ll include essay questions.  It’s not just kids that’ll be tested.  It’ll be a test for teachers in more ways than one. WFAE’s Lisa Miller is in the studio to talk about these changes, including a flood of new tests. 

School leaders in the Charlotte area are taking a closer look at security procedures following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. 

At a press conference Monday afternoon, CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison said the shootings prompted the district to ask “tough questions.” For example, what would the response have been if the shooting happened in a CMS school? 

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, private and charter schools don’t have much of a history of working together.  But CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison wants that to change. 

A few weeks ago, Charlotte Catholic High School principal Jerry Healy got an invitation from CMS.  The district wanted to meet with private and charter schools to talk about ways to collaborate.  He was surprised.  

“The agendas don’t seem to really match and in the past we’ve probably been looked on as the adversary, the people that are pulling our kids away,” says Healy.