By the time Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools rolls out its School Options Fair in January, it needs to come up with new, clear labels for its menu, Superintendent Heath Morrison said this week.
If you've been around CMS, you know it has neighborhood schools (or "home schools" or, in Morrison's recent terminology, "local schools") and magnets, where students apply for admission and go through a lottery if demand exceeds supply. But many of the new schools and programs outlined this week don't fit either category.
Two-year middle college high schools on CPCC campuses, a four-year early college high at UNC Charlotte and a small health-science high school at Hawthorne seem a lot like magnets. They won't have attendance zones; instead, students will apply to get in. The difference is that selection won't have to follow the CMS policy for the magnet lottery. (By the way, that policy is being revised. Check out the proposed changes here and the priority policy here. The changes look fairly minor to me, mostly reflecting the end of Title I choice, but I'm interested in others' views.)
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| Cato Middle College High: Like a magnet, but not |
Then there are opt-in programs that are open only to students in one school zone, such as the proposed academy of advanced manufacturing and entrepreneurship at Olympic High. None of these approaches are new (think Cato Middle College High and Performance Learning Center, which are non-magnet magnets, or Myers Park High's IB program and Olympic's five mini-schools, which are zone-only choices). But they're proliferating. And Morrison said it'll be important to help families understand them.
Details about the new plans, including costs, will come at the board's Nov. 12 meeting. Morrison said the Nov. 5 bond vote will shape some of the proposals. And while he says there will be some cost to taxpayers, it may not be as great as people think, he said. Some proposals, such as the new Olympic school, will come from rearranging current resources, he said. There's state money to help with the college-based schools, and Morrison said CMS is seeking grants and support from business partners and higher education. At Hawthorne, for instance, he said students will use CPCC medical labs so CMS won't have to build new ones.
It was interesting to hear board member Tom Tate critique the cost-efficiency of charter schools at Thursday's MeckEd candidate forum. He noted that CMS can education around 2,000 students at a high school, while a charter school might require the same administration for about 200. "They money just doesn't work," he said. The same critique would seem to apply at the small schools CMS is creating, which Tate voiced enthusiasm for. Here's hoping those questions get aired in November.
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46 comments:
Old policy, new policy. It doesn't matter since CMS has no clue as to which children are truly Title I anyway.
They make it up as they go along.
So for Tate to say "the money just doesn't work" is laughable.
That's right up there with "students who live near school are the cheapest to bus, and eliminating their rides makes little sense".
VOTE NO ON BONDS!
Time to think outside the box on this one CMS. Allow students more options, like they get themselves to school and, just like Cato, students have options on when they start classes. Not at 7:15am!
CMS Magnet Programs provide public education options emphasizing specialized learning environments and innovative instructional programs to promote excellence in student achievement and growth.
Why aren't all CMS schools treated as if they are Magnet schools? Seriously, why isn't this the product that we are all getting at our neighborhood schools?
Ideas of choice and competition may work to some degree in a marketplace, but it's a much trickier business for a school system, where it really only works if all schools are equally strong. Until that is the case here in Charlotte, the "choice" approach is always going to be partial and unsatifying, helping some schools while creating greater challenges for others.
Yeah, sure, competition only works when there is "equality".
In which universe might that be?
In a universe where every child needs access to a school that provides a high-quality education.
Define "equally strong" and how you intend to accomplish that.
In liberal pipe dreams, reality does not apply.
2081: Everyone Will Finally Be Equal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKHzFWkH0Po
Equally strong as in having equally strong attractions for families and students. It's not a formula – there are a range of factors. But it requires looking at all the schools in a competitive area, rather than one or two. Competition has its greatest value – competitors pushing each other to improve – in situations of relative balance. When one competitor is far stronger than another, the competition doesn't do much for either one.
Best excuse I've ever heard to shut down all school sports competition.
You go, tiger!
Of course, the highest paid "professionals" in our schools may disagree.
Q: When is a magnet not a magnet?
A: When it's Myers Park Traditional School or Elizabeth Traditional School.
Is this a Mormon trick question?
But isn't CMS equally strong? We keep getting that talking point hammered to us incessantly about how great everything is in every school.
CMS needs to make available ALL programs to ALL students who qualify and want to attend those schools. Those who don't qualify or not want to go to a magnet or special themed school, will still have a home school with the opportunity to succeed.
CMS' main responsibility is to put a product in place where all children have an oportunity to succeed.
The goal for our child in school was to do the very best he could with his abilities, with teachers and his parents encouraging him along the way and helping out when needed.
It's the teacher's job to teach and the parents job to ensure their child listens to the teacher, does what is required of them in and out of class related to schoolwork.
So it's not fair that some kids can roll out of bed, never study for a test and make a 100 on it? And I'm supposed to call foul because my child can't do that and say it's unfair competition?
My son entered advanced military training with 153 other men and women.
At the end, only 119 graduated, my son included.
During the 12 weeks of training, they all pull and push each other.
That is a perfect example of how pushing, pulling and competition doesn't always equate to everyone succeeding.
That's life.
So what happened to the others?
They are probably "competing" for low level jobs, day shift at McDonalds, or special favors in prison.
You just can't escape competition no matter where you go.
The idea isn't to "escape" competition, it's to figure out how it can be deployed most effectively. It's not an absolute good or an absolute evil; it's a tool that can be useful or destructive depending on how it's used.
Yeah, when you control your own universe you may get to "deploy" competition as a tool.
But not in my universe.
If you're asking me, they go on to do other things; school, work, etc.
CMS does have a degree of control. That's the point.
A number of years ago, I worked with the president of West Charlotte HS PTA. A child of mine and I had a bad experience at West Charlotte a few years earlier and I was curious if he thought things had gotten any better. He concluded quickly that you could swap the teachers at West Charlotte with any other high performing high school in Mecklenburg County and you would see no difference in the students' performances. He concluded much similar to my experience that West Charlotte was full of competent teachers but suffered with incompetent administration. Administration simply refused to back up the teachers and thus all the students lost out on educational opportunity and the teachers suffered with morale and dedication.
Pamela talks from her experience with east side schools. West side schools are a whole different animal. What she refuses to acknowledge is that people are human. While there has been a deterioration over the years, parents still have the right and responsibility to rear their children. There is a growing mindset that once was corralled in academic think tanks but is now being pushed by the federal knows best for you government that it can use public schools to shape the thinking and actions of future generations.
You must fear for the freedoms so many have fought for and died for over the years on these lands and overseas. They are gradually being nibbled away by elitists and their propaganda.
Control? CMS? LOL...
All I can do to keep from laughing outloud
at 33,000 feet...
CMS? How's that bell schedule workin' out for ya?
2:18
So are you saying that people on the east side aren't human?
The only way I can think of CMS and "control" in the same sentence is when it is preceded by "out of".
We are only human because we successfully competed against other primates.
Not sure how that goes down in the "East Side"/"West Side" debate.
(Do y'all still use actual gang hand signals when you say that now?)
People-when will you learn to not engage Pamela? Same old talk from her...pity those who don't live in the redone homes in Plaza Midwood. Same talk-different day.
You lose any chance of being relevant until you admit that your bubble on the east isn't the only place CMS needs to be concerned with. Geez-I wish the paper would find others to quote rather than her. BORING
And Pamela-I'm ready for you to hit me for not using my name. I don't care...heck most of the comments are probably from your neighbors-who are trying their hardest to get their kids into a magnet.
3 p.m.
I'd hate not to live up to your expectations. What do you personally have to hide? If that's what you think about me, why not have the guts to put your name to it? You don't have anything to fear from me. Ask Larry, Keith, Sharon, Bolyn or Christine.
@3pm-you nailed it!
7:58
CMS provides a CATS bus pass to students who don't have their own transportation to CATO.
I don't know about classes starting at 7:15 AM but I know CPCC offers classes that don't end until 8:00 PM.
One of my children considered CATO. We checked it out and I was very impressed with the program.
Alicia
Pamela,
Look on the bright side. It's not like you're the only one on here able to routinely tick-off a few anonymous folks. Que sera, sera.
Alicia
Alicia,
Thanks. Doesn't really bother me, but anonymity can have some pretty problematic consequences. There's a reason why members of the Klan wore hoods. There are some specific cases in which it's important, but otherwise I think society is better off when people take personal responsibility for what they say.
Pamela,
Anonymity has a great tradition in our nation.
Have you forgotten, or did you never know?
-Publius.
As a rock-ribbed solipsist, I don't believe any of you are real.
Like competition, the value of anonymity depends on when and how it is used.
Shamash,
So good of you to finally confirm your gender - if any of us are to believe you?
Alicia
Alicia,
Sorry to hear that you doubt me.
One of the biggest problems of solipsism, of course, is finding like-minded people who actually believe you.
It makes holidays a very difficult time.
And FWIW, I value Pamela Grundy's anonymity as much as my own.
But I'd out Larry in a heartbeat.
Pamela,
I am very competitive.
And I am more anonymous than you are.
So I win.
I agree that some people on these boards only view their issues as the important ones.
I guess its not worth knowing about or worrying about those classes with 40+ kids and no room so kids sit on the floor. Or caring about schools that get 1/3 of the funding. Somehow people decide that these kids can have their parents pick up the slack. Double standard anyone?
Well, if only those kids were minorities and their mommies and daddies were "middle-class" doctors and lawyers (straight out of the Huxtables) struggling with the "achievement gap" while sending their son to an expensive private school...
Then they could produce documentaries about their plight and get a lot of liberal hand-wringing out of it.
But, I suspect they aren't.
So they're stuck.
Pam, if you have a question for me or a issue that needs correcting just go to my website and ask. Don't use my name when I am not involved in your conversation. I am busy picking out lights for my house I am building in Fort Mill. All 3 schools are on the same road less than1 mile from my house. All of them run on a similar bell schedule and much like Iredell they are all using technology. Small district simple solutions. Keith W. Hurley
Keith,
No questions or concerns. Although we don't agree on many issues, I appreciate your willingness to take responsibility for your opinions. I hope you and your family enjoy your new home.
Until we decide in North Carolina and the country that IT IS OK TO HOLD PARENTS ACCOUNTABLE it doesn't matter how much we do, how many magnet, highly qualified teachers, .... we have; we are spinning our wheels. Let's hold parents accountable for their childrens education; this is not the sole responsibility of a school or those 20% of parents who actually engage and do the work of the other 80%.
Anon 8:57 am.
Thanks for your "irresponsible" opinion.
IMHIO, I agree.
Whoops, that should be thanks to 9:57am.
IMHIO.
Pam, please don't use my name when I am not involved with your current arguments. If you like the pool that CMS has created then good for you. I personally hold myself and community to a little higher standard. Keith W. Hurley
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