Snow days and PowerSchool: Let's talk

We all know the kids love a snow day,  but I suspect this winter of delays,  early dismissals and closings is putting a strain on the grown-ups.  I've been hearing that teachers,  assistants and others are struggling with how this affects their leave time,  and I'm sure working parents are in a continual quest for emergency child care.

I'm also interested in tracking down more information about the blizzard of problems related to the state's PowerSchool data system  (I know,  lame transition).  I keep hearing about things in bits and pieces,  and some of you have voiced frustration that I haven't pulled back to do a big-picture look at what problems remain and how we got into this mess.

Let me know your thoughts,  experiences and questions on either topic or both.  Anonymous comments can be helpful in shaping queries,  but I'd especially appreciate anyone willing to talk for a story.  Email me at ahelms@charlotteobserver.com or call 704-358-5033.  If you get voice mail, leave a message.  Once the flakes start falling,  I may go outside and play.

CMS wants Amay James back

The school board approved a plan Tuesday to end Brookstone School's lease on the old Amay James prekindergarten center in 2015 so Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools can use the space for nearby Reid Park Academy, a CMS preK-8 school.

It's just one of the ways that current officials are trying to cope with a 2010 decision to close about a dozen schools,  moves that previous leaders said were forced by looming budget cuts.  Among the most dramatic changes:  CMS closed three low-performing middle schools,  reassigning students to eight hastily-created preK-8 schools.  Other schools,  including all the free-standing prekindergarten centers, were closed because then-Superintendent Peter Gorman said they were not delivering academic benefits, not attracting students or not cost-effective.

Now the district is launching a campaign for approval of $290 million in school bonds in November.  The No. 1 project is reopening two of the closed schools  Oakhurst Elementary will become a math/science/arts magnet and the former Starmount prekindergarten center will be a neighborhood elementary school.  (Click here for the new CMS bond page launched this week,  which includes detailed descriptions of proposed projects).  The cost for converting both buildings,  which are currently used for staff offices,  is $5.94 million.

Also on the list is $30.4 million to build a new preK-8 school in west Charlotte to relieve the overcrowded Reid Park and nearby Berryhill School,  another of the preK-8 schools that was created as part of the closing plan.  The new school would open in 2017.  Amay James,  which is now being leased to the private Christian elementary school,  would serve as a stopgap.

Crowding isn't the only issue sparking follow-up expenses.  CMS hurried to turn elementary schools into buildings that could serve middle-schoolers and 4-year-olds in time for the opening of school in 2011.  The 2013 bond includes $24.7 million to finish the job at six of the schools,  including the addition of gyms and special classrooms.  That work will be done in August 2019,  eight years after the schools converted.

As Superintendent Heath Morrison,  who started in 2012,  doesn't argue for the wisdom of the closings.  He notes that he reversed the one closing decision that overlapped into his time,  a vote to close University Park creative arts magnet and merge it with First Ward in a complicated year-round schedule.

Instead,  Morrison hopes to convince voters that CMS is making wise financial decisions moving ahead.  For instance:  Reopening Oakhurst and Starmount will cost about $30 million less than building two new elementary schools would have.  Building new combined elementary/middle schools for about $30 million costs about $18 million less than building an elementary and a middle school.  And leasing the closed schools or using them for CMS offices gives the district flexibility it wouldn't have had it it sold the property.  Before asking for new buildings,  Morrison said,  CMS first asks,  "What do we have in our inventory?"

Update:  Thanks to an anonymous commenter who's better than me at web site sleuthing,  here's the link to a report on past bond projects that's fresher than the March version posted on the CMS bond site. Some people have complained about CMS lists that omit cancelled or delayed projects. This one seems to include everything (see, for instance, cancelled renovations for Amay James and Davidson IB Middle School, both closed in 2011).

K-8 schools: Not just for poor kids

The construction plan that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools released last week answers a question that's been looming for three years:  If K-8 schools are such a great thing for kids, why not put them in the suburbs?

In 2010, CMS leaders decided to close three high-poverty middle schools and move the students to elementary schools in west and central Charlotte.  Some families were skeptical of the claim that it was done to benefit students.  School closings,  driven largely by tight budgets,  fell disproportionately on low-income black neighborhoods,  and some saw the merged schools as a thrown-together solution.

Now a new group of leaders are eager to spread K-8 schools around Mecklenburg County. Among the top 50 priorities:

*Expand Davidson Elementary,  a low-poverty, high-performing schools in the north suburbs, to add middle school grades.

*Build a K-8 school in the county's southern tip,  home to some of the most affluent subdivisions and high-performing schools. It would combine neighborhood and magnet seats, with a STEAM theme (that's science, technology, engineering, arts and math).

*Expand Mountain Island Elementary in northwest Charlotte to add middle school grades. Parents and faculty there have been pushing for the change, which would give students the chance to continue a STEM focus in middle school  (see above, minus arts).

*Build a K-8 school in east Charlotte that combines neighborhood seats and a dual-immersion Spanish-English magnet.

*Build preK-8 schools in west Charlotte,  north Charlotte and the Mint Hill area to relieve crowded schools.

All these changes depend on how much borrowing county officials and/or voters approve.  Commissioners have indicated a need to move slowly to avoid debt overload.

The plan makes it clear that Superintendent Heath Morrison  --  and the current board,  assuming they approve the plan on April 23 -- see academic value and popular appeal in K-8 schools.

Less clear is whether that will restore the confidence of urban voters angered by the closings. There's little doubt that the hasty conversion to preK-8 schools in 2011-12 created problems with crowding,  discipline and adequate facilities.  The new plan includes almost $23 million to properly convert the buildings at six sites,  with two others  (Berryhill and Briarwood)  slated for replacement buildings because of the age of the schools.

Last month County Commissioner Vilma Leake,  who represents the west/southwest District 2,  told the school board the closings remain a sore spot for her constituents,  who want to see some or all of the closed schools reopened.  The new capital plan calls for reopening Oakhurst Elementary and  Starmount PreK Center in southeast Charlotte as elementary schools and turning the former Smith Language Academy in south Charlotte into a magnet high school.  But it doesn't address the closed middle schools in Leake's district.

Whatever your thoughts,  the chance to comment is at the April 9 school board meeting.  Click here to find the agenda later this week and for instructions on signing up to speak.