Report captures school changes

The 2011-12 enrollment numbers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools provide a snapshot of schools going through big changes  (read the CMS report here and the Observer's chart here).

For instance:  Last year Harding High was a magnet school with just under 900 students,  86 percent of them African American.  Now that CMS has closed Waddell,  a neighborhood high school,  and moved many of those students to Harding,  it has grown to about 1,770 students,  with a larger Hispanic population.  (Of course, enrollment numbers can't answer questions about what will happen to school culture and achievement,  since the merger blended one of the district's highest-performing schools with one of its lowest.)

South and West Meck,  which picked up parts of the former Waddell zone,  also grew.  West added about 300 students,  for a total topping 1,800,  with little change in demographics.  South went from about 2,000 to 2,373,  with white enrollment going from 52 percent to 44 percent.

Phillip O.  Berry Academy of Technology picked up some of the former Harding magnet students,  growing by almost 200 students to 1,455.  It remains majority black and Hispanic.

Marie G. Davis Military/Leadership Academy,  which has struggled to fill its classrooms since it opened in 2008,  added an elementary component,  making it CMS' first K-12 school.  That roughly doubled enrollment,  from about 350 to just over 700.  Each grade remains small,  ranging from about 78 in middle-school grades to a senior class of 24  (last year Davis had nine graduates).

The K-8 language academy formerly known as Smith,  which changed its name and location when it moved into the Waddell building in August,  shows no major changes in enrollment or demographics.

Alexander Middle in Huntersville grew from about 600 to 850 with the addition of the Davidson IB magnet program.  The merger of a majority-white magnet and a majority-black neighborhood school has yielded a student body that's 45 percent black, 38 percent white and 11 percent Hispanic.

Finally,  some in the north have been warily watching changes at North Meck since Hough High opened last year,  carving off the northernmost and most affluent territory.  North had about 2,163 students in 2009-10,  61 percent of them white.  Last year, with Hough's opening,  it dropped to 1,726 students,  35 percent white.  That included most of the 12th-grade class from the original zone,  since CMS doesn't force seniors to switch schools.  This year it's down to about 1,590 and 23 percent white.