Tagged: CMS

CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison wants to halt plans to merge two creative arts magnet schools.  Students at University Park and First Ward elementaries have been in limbo the past two years.  In 2010, the school board voted to close University Park along with ten other schools to save money and, then, merge it with First Ward. 

Two CMS creative art magnets could combine next year and become a school open to students year-round.  The board was expected to launch that effort Tuesday night.  But Superintendent Heath Morrison decided the district needed more time to study it and get input from parents. 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has agreed to pay former teacher Jeffrey Leardini $680,000 to settle a lawsuit that brought him a jury award of $1.1 million. Leardini, a former sixth-grade teacher at Community House Middle School, contended he was improperly forced to resign in 2006, after five students accused him of improperly touching them.

About 15,000 kids a year drop out of North Carolina schools.  In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the number is about 1,500.  School social workers have long made house calls to many kids who simply stop showing up at school.  They try to figure out why the child left, get them help, and show them ways they can catch up. 

This is a sensitive situation.  Imagine you're a kid who has given up on school and then a social worker shows up on your doorstep. 

"I've had families look through the blinds and not come to the door," says Heidi Berger, a CMS social worker.  

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools offered the first round of data last night on the impact of closing 10 schools last year.  The closures will save the district money, but it's unclear how they've affected academics. 

Two years ago, the CMS board voted to close the schools, saying it would save money and create better learning environments.  Last night, the district provided a whole slew of information to begin to see if that was the case.  Superintendent Heath Morrison pointed out the academic data isn't straight-forward.