Most crowded schools? You'd be surprised

The days of jam-packed suburban schools and underfilled urban ones are over,  according to a 10-year capital plan Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools rolled out in draft form last week.

I missed the presentation,  so I'm trying to get up to speed on the massive binder reporter April Bethea brought back from the meeting  (read her story here).  If the full 10-year report is online,  I haven't located it.  I'll be chipping away in hopes of getting as much information as possible to readers before the April 9 public hearing.

CMS has faced an ongoing challenge figuring out the best way to calculate which schools are in direst need of relief from crowding.  The latest report talks about measuring stress on each school's  "core spaces,"  such as cafeterias, gyms and libraries.  The district can use mobile classrooms to expand enrollment,  but if it's stretched too far  you end up with lunch times spread out over most of the day,  playgrounds squeezed out and parking lots that can't begin to handle volunteers and visitors.

The report also includes a utilization chart that  "takes into account the number of teachers,  brick and mortar classrooms,  and annual student populations at each and every school."  It's described as a snapshot of any given school this year.

According to that list,  the most crowded school is Hickory Grove Elementary,  a high-poverty school in east Charlotte that's being utilized at 206 percent,  with 1,239 students  (including 250 prekindergarteners) and 37 mobile classrooms.  Voters approved money for a relief school in 2007,  but that school isn't slated to open until 2015.

Close behind is Collinswood Language Academy at 200 percent,  with 714 K-8 students and 24 mobile classrooms  (the south Charlotte building only has 23).  It's odd to find extreme crowding at magnet schools,  given that CMS controls admission.  But the district decided to expand Collinswood to include middle school grades,  which has strained the building.  The proposal for a 2013 bond package includes a new K-8 school in the Albemarle Road area that will provide neighborhood seats to relieve Albemarle Road Elementary  (174 percent student utilization)  and Albemarle Road Middle (94 percent),  with Spanish-English magnet seats providing an alternative to Collinswood.

Others ranked among the most overutilized this year are Selwyn Elementary in south Charlotte  (172 percent);  Huntersville's Torrence Creek Elementary  (157 percent),  which will get relief when Grand Oak Elementary opens in August;  Montclaire Elementary in south Charlotte (154 percent);  Windsor Park Elementary in east Charlotte  (151 percent);  and Cotswold Elementary in southeast Charlotte (150 percent).   Several of the most crowded schools are those serving large numbers of Hispanic students,  who represent a fast-growing segment of enrollment.

The lowest utilization on the new chart is 55 percent for Marie G. Davis Military and Global Leadership Academy,  a K-12 magnet south of uptown Charlotte.  Voters approved an expansion/replacement school many years ago,  when it was a thriving International Baccalaureate middle school magnet.  Under a massive student assignment shakeup in 2002,  it became a struggling high-poverty neighborhood school,  which was eventually replaced by the military magnet. Even with 12 grades,  it has only 730 students.

Other underfilled schools on the new list are Irwin Avenue Elementary  (62 percent),  an uptown school that became a talent development magnet last year;  North Mecklenburg High  (62 percent),  which was overcrowded until nearby Hough High opened; and Kennedy Middle in southwest Charlotte  (63 percent).

The utilization numbers are not being used as a sole source of decision-making about long-term plans for new schools, expansions or renovations.  That's a more complex calculation that I'll be delving into in coming days.  As always,  observations and questions from readers are helpful.