CMS

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper launched a war of words with his “state of emergency” tour last week, where he accused Republican lawmakers of choking the life out of public education, dropping an atomic bomb on it, choosing corporations over classrooms, turning their backs on children, bringing political culture wars into classrooms and using political hacks to dictate what happens in schools.

A pair of matching voucher bills in the state House and Senate signal a shift in the way North Carolina pays for public education. Both are titled “Choose Your School, Choose Your Future,” and they’d remove income restrictions on receiving public money to pay private school tuition. Passage is virtually certain, given the bills’ powerful sponsors in a General Assembly with a veto-proof Republican majority.

When Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools rolled out its post-desegregation “choice plan” almost 21 years ago, a lot of attention focused on the emergence of stratified urban and suburban schools. But there was another group of schools that didn’t fit either category, schools that some called the middle ring.

This year’s third-graders took an especially hard hit from pandemic classroom disruptions. CMS Interim Superintendent Crystal Hill said she expects next year’s third-graders to rebound faster, but that’s little consolation for the kids who are moving toward the years when reading skills are essential for all subjects. Still, Tuesday’s review of the reading data was a victory of sorts.

Last week the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board zeroed in on one of the toughest tasks ahead: Helping more students thrive in high school math. When the school board identified its biggest academic challenge in 2021, high school Math I scores were among them. Math I is the foundation for all other math classes, and that means it’s crucial for getting into college or high-tech careers.

I learned something from my colleague Steve Harrison last week: Partisan school board elections are more common in North Carolina than partisan city council races. Based on my experience in Mecklenburg County I had assumed the opposite was true.

After meeting with search consultants last week, the CMS board’s superintendent search committee now says it expects to hire a new leader in May, rather than April. Consultant Debra Hill told the committee it isn’t likely to put CMS at a disadvantage in the quest to get someone in the office by summer.

A jury ruled Friday that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools did not violate the Title IX civil rights of a former Myers Park High student who said the school system didn't protect her after a 2015 sexual assault.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board chose Elyse Dashew as a new chair and Stephanie Sneed as a new vice chair in the first meeting of a board with five new members.

Last school year was a somewhat scandalous one for sports in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Myers Park, West Charlotte and Julius Chambers High School all had to forfeit football seasons due to player eligibility issues.