No fear at East Meck?

It's never been scarier to be a teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, with layoffs becoming a rite of spring and all sorts of new ratings kicking in.

So why are the teachers at East Mecklenburg High so bold about speaking up on controversial issues?

I wondered that as I headed to a meeting some of those teachers organized Tuesday to talk about performance pay and testing (read more about that in Sunday's paper).

In nine years on this beat, countless teachers have told me they're afraid to raise public questions or criticism. It's not always clear where the threat originates, but there's no doubt the fear is real.

So why do these East Meck folks stand up at public meetings to challenge student assignment proposals and job cuts? How dare they summon colleagues, parents and students to their auditorium to air concerns about one of Superintendent Peter Gorman's pet projects?

On Tuesday, veteran teachers Larry Bosc and Kevin Strawn were joined by the youthful Gariann Yochym as lead speakers. With passion, intelligence and professionalism, they laid out their qualms about Gorman's plan to use student test scores to evaluate teachers. Several students were in the audience, and had helped spread the word via Facebook. Seniors James Whalen and Patrick Wilkenloh spoke about their personal views of testing. Parent activist Pam Grundy introduced a petition.

All in all, it was a textbook exercise in democracy.

Near the end, a teacher who didn't give his name asked how the East teachers could take such a risk. He said he was wary of even sharing information about such meetings: "I've been warned by various people to be sure it doesn't come from me."

Simple, said Bosc: "Our administration has been supportive of us speaking out."

I caught up with East Meck Principal Rick Parker afterward. He sounded delighted to take credit for an outspoken staff. Parker says he strives for an atmosphere of "mutual respect and dignity," and that includes having teachers who air their opinions. It's fine to question or criticize, he says, as long as it's done professionally: "We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."

Has he ever worried that one of his teachers will land him in hot water? Parker answered by talking about Strawn's critical comments about value-added ratings at a recent school board meeting. Gorman and Board Chair Eric Davis called Parker afterward -- to offer "rave reviews" of Strawn's candor.

"That right there, people listen," Parker said. "That's what we need more of."

Amen. It's an act of courage to take a stand on tough issues, especially when they affect your livelihood. Teachers who take that risk -- and administrators who support them -- help us all make smarter decisions.

East Meck: Not so dinky

It was just about a year ago that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board kicked off months of melodrama by launching a last-ditch effort to find more students for East Mecklenburg High in 2010-11.

Members had just approved controversial boundaries for the new Rocky River High, and projections called for East to shrink from 2,100 to roughly 1,400 this year, when the new boundaries take effect. The fear was that East Meck would lose academic ground and community support if it lost too many students and teachers. The board ended up shuffling boundaries for International Baccalaureate magnet programs at East, Myers Park and Harding.

As the start of school approaches, CMS projections call for East to have 1,836 students, including 745 in the magnet. If those numbers materialize (official tallies are taken in September), East will have the district's largest high-school IB program, with Harding second at 731. Other IB magnet numbers as of CMS's second lottery are 476 at North Meck; 335 at Myers Park, which lost the ability to take magnet students from outside its zone; and 159 at West Charlotte, says Magnet Director Jeff Linker.

Kim Lanphear, one of the parent leaders of Myers Park's IB program, says the school hated to lose its out-of-zone students, but the program is expected to thrive. Students who aren't officially part of the IB program can get permission to take some IB classes.

Harding faces the greatest uncertainty. As a full magnet (IB is combined with math/science), it's one of four high schools that lost neighborhood busing. The school is already down from a peak enrollment of more than 1,440 a few years ago to just over 1,000, thanks partly to academic admission requirements added in recent years. If more families pull out because they can't get their kids to and from school or shuttle stops, Harding could shrink further.

A few other magnet updates, courtesy of Linker: First Ward Elementary, which is picking up the arts magnet that used to be at Dilworth, is expected to have 625 students. Linker says most of the Dilworth students and faculty moved to First Ward, and some extra students were admitted because the building is bigger.

The math/science magnet at Morehead and the Spanish-immersion magnets at Collinswood and Oaklawn will have their first sixth-graders this year; all were formerly elementary schools. Sedgefield Middle will debut a seventh-grade Montessori magnet class of 20 to 25 students (moving up from Park Road and Highland Mills, which added sixth-graders last year).

And the Military and Global Leadership Academy at Marie G. Davis will have its first graduating class this year. There are only about a dozen seniors, Linker says, and the school remains short of its goal of 100 students per grade level. But Linker says the lower grades of the combined middle/high school are starting to get close.