News that the county has re-ranked the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools list of bond projects had some of you asking, understandably, what the new list looks like. As of Wednesday night, the report presented Tuesday wasn't online; keep checking this link and it should be posted soon under "Update on proposed capital improvement and operating budget," with the list on page 7 of that document.
The 10 CMS projects that would be included in a three-year bond package are, in order of county priorities:
1. Replacing Alexander Middle School (no. 3 on the CMS ranking).
2. Renovating Myers Park High (no. 8).
3. Expanding/renovating Olympic High (no. 2).
4. Building a new preK-8 school in west Charlotte to relieve Berryhill and Reid Park (no. 5).
5. Reopening Oakhurst and Starmount as elementary schools (no. 1).
6. Building a new K-8 neighborhood/magnet school in east Charlotte (no. 4).
7. Replacing Nations Ford Elementary with a new school on the Waddell Language Academy campus (no. 9).
8. Replacing Statesville Road Elementary (no. 16).
9. Expanding/renovating East Mecklenburg High (no. 10).
10. Renovating South Mecklenburg High (no. 12).
In addition, the CMS report says the county is willing to renovate Northwest School of the Arts (no. 7 on the CMS list) using pay-as-you-go money, though it wouldn't be part of the bonds on the November ballot. (Read more about the CMS proposals here.) And a plan to add a building on Central Piedmont Community College's Harper Campus for a middle college high school, originally no. 6 on the CMS priority list, has been moved to the CPCC package.
If the county decides to put four years worth of projects on the November ballot, that would add renovations at Selwyn Elementary and six preK-8 schools to the CMS list, with renovations at Northridge Middle added to the pay-as-you-go list.
The projects that appear to be losing out are career-tech renovations at four high schools, conversion of Davidson Elementary to a K-8 school and construction of a new K-8 magnet in the Ballantyne area.
But nothing is locked in yet. County commissioners haven't approved a 2013 bond, and CMS board members are trying to rally pressure for them to override county staff and stick with the CMS priorities.
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15 comments:
PayGo, yes. Bonds NO!
Remind us again how much is unspent from the last must-have bond fund from 5 years ago?
Psssstt...$212 MILLION
VOTE NO! ON BONDS IN NOVEMBER!
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GOT TO GO WITH CMS' THOUGHTS ON CONSTRUCTION PRIORITIES....
...and it has nothing to with my desire to see the best possible public education system.
The conflict here is two government with differing views of the future. That's healthy.
My regular job is manufacturing. For years I was an estimator. My cardinal rule for doing a tough quote was to go down to the production floor and get their opinion on what was the best way to cost a new project.
I didn't have to following their advice, but too often I found my twisting of numbers to get a winning bid that would satisfy a buyer was a disaster on our production floor....we didn't make the full profit.
My advice to the county is:
1.) Hold to your budget
2.) Build what your employees can work with.
Bolyn McClung
Pineville
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Folks as long as Myers Park schools are on top of the list 1&2 and stay that way its all good. How in the world did that happen ? Wait til Kojo sees the list it will be a issue.
The conflict here is two government with differing views of the future.
That statement is why CMS should never, ever have taxing authority.
VOTE NO! ON BONDS IN NOVEMBER!
Should be an interesting mix with the Nations Ford Elementary and Waddell Language Academy fighting with other schools, soccer leagues, CMS departments, and outside interests for use of the auditorium, athletic fields, gym, and playgrounds. Neighborhood interests jumping the fences to play in the stadium and trying to evade security would also be an issue. One would hope with 200+acres on the Waddell site, Nations Ford could have its own entrance from some other point. Engineering, architecture, design, and planning haven't interfered with CMS priorities before.
10:40AM
Project #1 is JM Alexander, which is in North Mecklenburg. That is a different school, and side of town, than AG.
Bolyn, you would go down and actually talk to the people on the ground, doing the work. That's NOT in any way what CMS is doing. If they talked to the teachers they would have a profoundly different set of priorities.
But those in the ivory tower at the government center don't care and don't (can't really) get it. Their priorities are fundamentally opposed to those of the teachers in the classroom.
I don't care what CMS educrats want. Let those paying make the decisions.
I would like to see a detailed plan including "projected" enrollment numbers of CMS' latest student assignment scheme called an "overlap model" before supporting any K-8 partial magnet school in the Ballantyne area. Let's not get fooled again, folks.
I find nothing wrong with anything else on the priority list.
If I had a magic wand, I'd renovate Garinger back to it's original 1962 National Geographic glory starting with the historic library. CMS should be sent to the firing squad for allowing this school building and grounds to deteriorate to it's current state of travesty.
"Garinger's campus is designed by AG Odell, Jr., and Associates, who also designed several other famous buildings in Charlotte. The campus covers roughly 63 acres and consists of several detached buildings, many of which have interior courtyards. Near the center of campus sits a unique round building with a conical roof, which served as the original library. It has since been converted into classroom space and much of the interior integrity has been lost. A new two-story library was added in the 1970s.
The campus was considered state-of-the-art when it first opened, winning many architectural awards for its unique modern buildings. Garinger was even featured in a 1962 edition of National Geographic as Charlotte-Mecklenburg's showplace high school.
In early 2006 the school found itself threatened with closure by the State of North Carolina, but has received backing from the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County."
Alicia
And hell would have to freeze over before I ever supported giving any CMS school board taxing authority.
Alicia
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TO: ANON 2:36PM
Subject: Reaching the L.I.F.T foot soldiers.
To this point very few stones have been left unturned......however I remain a very interested casual observer.
From the start I was a tentative supporter. Probably still so today. That test result thing is a problem.
The biggest L.I.F.T. success has been outside the classroom: the extended calendar.....and that came with some baggage.
Something I have my eye on is the switch of summer BELL School to middle schools. I wasn't aware of that until this week.
And last I'm worried about the possible loss of Ann Clark. The original relationships for L.I.F.T were Gorman, Davis, Clark.
Bolyn McClung
Pineville
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If you go to the high schools and compare Myers Park already has many things others do not. They have a state of the art auditorium while others like Independence and South have plays in rooms built for other purposes. Union county brings all schools to equitable physical layouts before adding anything anywhere. Wrong to cut out career projects. Too many kids who are not college bound sleeping in class who could thrive in a career (auto, cosmetology, etc) field. Keep that near the top no matter what.
Bolyn , Your correct and its great that your starting to see thru LIFT. The 3 stooges behind it Gormanator (gone) Clark (leaving) and Davis (clueless) got involved for the money and they were told to do it by their superiors. The truth will come out in the results 5 years from now and then its too late as we lost those kids as a community to the system.
Vocational Schools is the only chance CMS has to achieve any of its ACADEMIC Goals.
Yes for votech training. And by the way, most high school students sleep during the school day. Change the 7:15am high school start time CMS.
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