Parents pushing for partial magnets as schools reopen

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools plans to re-open two elementary schools next year, and parents who live in both areas are pushing to create new partial magnet schools there.

Both cases center around fast-growing areas of Charlotte that are drawing more high-income families, but are districted to schools with a large percentage of low-income students. Partial magnets take kids from the immediate area as a home school and then have lottery spots for the magnet program.

Oakhurst Elementary, at Monroe and Commonwealth Avenues, was closed in 2011 as CMS sorted through massive budget cuts. The district will re-open the school in the fall of 2015. That's sent parents in three nearby neighborhoods in front of the school board over the past month -- including a half dozen at Tuesday night's meeting.

Chantilly, nestled between the Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood neighborhoods, has rapidly gentrified and become what real estate agents call "highly desirable" in the last few years. Homes currently listed for sale there are going for $500,000 or more. The Commonwealth/Morningside area is just across Independence from there, and the Oakhurst neighborhood is to the east. Homes on the market there are in the $300,000s range.

The neighborhood is home to Chantilly Montessori, a tiny magnet school. The area is districted to Billingsville Elementary, which was made up of 95.5 percent economically disadvantaged students last school year, per CMS data. The school also performed well below the district and state average on End of Grade tests.

The parents from the area who spoke at the meeting said they and their neighbors don't find that a good option.

"Parents win the (magnet) lottery, go to private school, or move away," said Scott Thomas, who lives in Commonwealth Morningside and is the father of boys aged 2 and 3. "At this point, they have no good options of schools to attend."

One parent, Lyndsey Kenerley, said she gave Billingsville a chance and then sent her child to a charter school. "We just need a great neighborhood school back."

The answer, they said, is to re-open Oakhurst Elementary as a partial magnet with a science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) program.

Parents near Huntingtowne Farms Elementary had a similar story. Starmount Elementary is set to re-open next year as well, and the Huntingtone Farms parents want their school switched a partial magnet with a STEAM program as well.

Huntingtowne Farms was 85.5 percent economically disadvantaged last year. Montclaire Elementary, also in the area, was 92 percent economically disadvantaged.

Erin Pushman told the board that the concentration of poverty was a negative both for low-income children and the more affluent children at the school.

"It is not an issue of our children and their children, of us and them. This is an issue for everyone," she said. "The stakes are high. All children at Huntingtowne Farm are at risk."

The board didn't respond directly to any of the comments. I spoke with Scott McCully, executive director of student placement at CMS, after the meeting.

He said the district still has a community meeting or two left to go before any decisions start being made. A potential STEAM program at Oakhurst has come up in some of these meetings that have already been held.

What's up with special CMS meeting?

My eyes bugged when I saw the notice of a special Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board meeting to approve personnel appointments Tuesday afternoon.  The meeting will start with closed session at 1 p.m., the note says.

Last week's regular meeting started almost half an hour late because members were talking behind closed doors. I flashed back to three years ago, when Superintendent Peter Gorman stunned everyone by announcing his resignation with little warning. (Post Traumatic Superintendent Disorder, perhaps?)

But spokeswoman Tahira Stalberte and the board's vice chair, Tim Morgan, laughed at my urgent query about whether some big shakeup was afoot. The meeting is about filling principal vacancies,  Stalberte said.  Update:  Stalberte now says it will include personnel other than principals, but she and Chief Communication Officer Kathryn Block say Morrison isn't going anywhere.

Stalberte

But those appointments are normally approved during regular meetings.  Why the long closed session last week and the special meeting this week?

Morgan said it's a matter of timing  --  waiting until end-of-year testing is over to avoid school disruption while moving as fast as possible to prepare for 2014-15.  As for last week,  he said,  the closed session that normally precedes public meetings ran long with a long list of unrelated items,  including property issues,  individual student assignment questions and evaluation of the general counsel.

Speaking of school board drama,  Stalberte is leaving CMS at the end of this week to become chief communication officer for Union County Schools. She's been a mainstay of the CMS public information office since 2006,  with about a year's detour to Durham County Schools. I'd tease her about fleeing the stress of the big city and the Charlotte media,  but consider where she's going:  To a district where parents are suing the school board over boundaries and the school board sues county commissioners over the budget.  I wish her good luck as she crosses the county line.

School board travel tab rising

Travel costs for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board are rising,  in part because members want to have a stronger voice in national policy.

The board allots $5,150 a year for the chairman to travel and $3,100 for each of the other eight members,  a total of $29,950 a year.  For the last couple of years they spent far less -- $17,529 in 2011-12 and $12,500 the year before.

Ellis-Stewart

For 2012-13,  the board spent $24,024.  At-large member Ericka Ellis-Stewart,  who was board chair for the first half of the budget year,  spent just over $7,200,  the largest amount  (read the summary for all members here).  Obviously that's more than her normal allotment,  even figuring half a year at the higher rate.  Current Chairman Mary McCray says the board agreed to cover her travel costs for Council of Urban Boards of Education sessions when the board endorsed her appointment to the CUBE steering committee.  The steering committee meets five times a year at locations around the country,  and members are required to attend four of those meetings,  McCray said. The board added $5,000 to Ellis-Stewart's travel budget for that purpose.

This month,  Ellis-Stewart went to a CUBE summer issues seminar in Seattle at a cost of about $1,870.  She was one of three members,  along with McCray and Joyce Waddell,  who went to the National School Boards Association annual conference in San Diego,  at a cost of more than $2,000 each.  She also spent almost $1,200 on an NSBA Federal Relations Network conference in Washington, D.C., and about the same on a trip to Indianapolis for the Council of the Great City Schools fall conference.

Ellis-Stewart's role is part of the board's strategy for making their views known to local,  state and national lawmakers,  all of whom shape education policy and spending in CMS.  McCray,  a Democrat,  and Vice Chair Tim Morgan,  a Republican,  have spent a lot of energy lobbying the Republican-dominated state legislature and the Democratic-majority county commission.  Ellis-Stewart,  also a Democrat, was tapped to be the expert in national issues.

McCray was the second-largest spender,  with a 2012-13 tab just over $4,500.  Other than the San Diego conference,  that travel was in-state.  Morgan spent about $1,200,  all of it for in-state travel.

Waddell spent just over $4,000 on the San Diego trip and four in-state conferences,  including some of Richard McElrath's unspent allotment.

Eric Davis took the most expensive single trip,  spending almost $3,100 to join the Chamber of Commerce inter-city trip to New York City in October 2012.

Rhonda Lennon and Richard McElrath spent nothing on travel last year,  according to the CMS tally.

School board competition coming?

Halfway through filing,  we have exactly one candidate signed up for each of the six Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board district seats.

Surely that will change in the coming week.  Uncontested school board races are a rarity.  Four years ago,  five of the six district races had competition,  with District 3 pulling nine candidates.  In 2011,  14 people signed up for the three at-large seats.

Let me apologize in advance for temporarily ignoring anyone who files next week. I'll be off and will catch up on the race when I return July 22.

A couple of leave-behinds for all that free time you'll have without reading my blog:  First, I almost overlooked this interesting report from the N&O's Lynn Bonner on the state Board of Education trying to figure out the best way to use the new state exams.  Many of us will be eager to see what they come up with in August.

Second, I just stumbled across an entertaining self-parody by some Teach For America cadets,  called "S*it TFAers Say"  (thanks to ed blogger Alexander Russo for sharing it).  A few phrases baffled me,  but anyone who spends time around educators will surely get a few good chuckles of recognition.  As Russo notes,  the video "reveals an admirable level of self-awareness."  Enjoy!

CMS school board race starts today

Filing for the six district seats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School board opens at noon today.

Four years ago,  most of the incumbents stepped aside,  leaving new members to claim five seats on the nine-member board.  This year four of the incumbents  --  Rhonda Lennon, Joyce Waddell,  Tom Tate and Eric Davis  --  say they plan to run again.  Richard McElrath in District 2 said this week he still hasn't decided,  while Amelia Stinson-Wesley,  an appointee to the District 6 seat,  says she's not ready to tip her hand.

For a $60 filing fee,  contenders can take a shot at one of the toughest jobs in town.  Board members earn about $12,600 a year  --  far less than Charlotte city council members or Mecklenburg County commissioners  --  for overseeing one of the area's biggest organizations. Members need to keep up with rapidly changing trends in education;  understand a tangle of federal,  state and local regulations;  and have a working knowledge of such fields as construction,  technology and transportation.

Candidates should be prepared for anything.  The folks who got elected in 2009 didn't expect to be plunged into teacher layoffs and school closings,  but that's what dominated their first couple of years.  Then came a superintendent search.

For those of you who decide to take it on,  please shoot me a link to your campaign web site,  some bio information and a good head shot (ahelms@charlotteobserver.com).  I'll try to make it easy for blog readers to stay up to date on the campaign.

The boundaries have changed slightly since the last district election.  See the district map here,  and click here to see which precincts have been assigned to different school board districts.