The public will get a look Tuesday evening at Superintendent Crystal Hill’s plans for student assignment changes taking effect in the 2025-26 school year. It’s billed as a first step toward a long-awaited comprehensive review of magnet programs and neighborhood schools.
The plans include some boundary changes related to shifting magnet programs and making better use of buildings, but most neighborhood schools will not see any change.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools held several public engagement sessions in July to outline plans (watch the presentation here):
- The district’s arts magnets will see changes connected with the $2.5 billion bond package approved last year. University Park Creative Arts Academy will become a countywide arts magnet for grades K-5, while First Ward Creative Arts Academy will become a countywide arts middle school. Both schools currently have attendance zones for non-magnet students, who would be reassigned to a different neighborhood school. Northwest School of the Arts, currently a combined middle-high magnet school, would lose the middle school grades.
- Students in the secondary Montessori magnet will move from J.T. Williams to Marie G. Davis, which was also part of the bond package. Marie G. Davis is currently a K-8 IB magnet that includes a neighborhood zone. The neighborhood students will be assigned to a new non-magnet school, while magnet students can choose an IB magnet in a different location.
- Davidson K-8 School will become an elementary school, with middle school students assigned to nearby Bailey Middle School. It added middle school grades after an expansion in 2019.
- Dorothy J. Vaughan Academy of Technology and Parkside elementary schools in northeast Charlotte will be merged. The aging Vaughan building will close and all students will move to Parkside.
- Ninth and tenth grades will be added to the campus-based high schools at Central Piedmont Community College’s Cato, Harper, Levine and Merancas locations. They currently serve only junior and seniors, as well as students who opt to stay for another year. They'll become early college high schools like those at UNC Charlotte and Central Piedmont’s uptown campus.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Hill will present recommendations for carrying out those plans. She and her staff will also report on what they’ve heard during the public meetings.
CMS will then hold additional virtual meetings to discuss Hill’s proposals, with a public hearing on Aug. 27 and a board vote scheduled for Sept. 10.
Although the changes won’t take effect for another year, the choice lottery for 2025-26 begins this fall, which means all magnet changes need to be in place.
The district is overdue for a comprehensive review of student assignment, which board policy calls for every six years. The last one was completed in 2017. District leaders have been talking about launching a new review for more than two years, but were delayed by turnover on the board and a change of superintendents.
Tuesday’s report is billed as Phase One of a new comprehensive review. Board members have said that consultants are reviewing the district’s magnets, demographics and boundaries, and the board will discuss that report this fall. Vice Chair Dee Rankin has said any changes will be viewed in the context of how they affect academic achievement.
