Education
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CMS Unveils Details of New Teacher Housing Initiative
Having built a plan based on discussions that started with a housing fair in June, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders last week announced the details of its new At Home in CMS initiative, which will provide local rental and homeownership options in a community dedicated to teacher housing. At a Nov. 14…
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NC House Budget Proposal Gives Glimpse at Funding Goals
North Carolina House leaders released their proposed budget this week, putting forward a recommendation to raise the starting salary for teachers from $41,000 to $44,000 a year. With strong opposition from the NC Senate, however, the proposal is not expected to pass through both chambers. The budget proposal also includes…
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New CMS Budget Approved Before Presentation to County
CMS Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill and other CMS leaders held a news conference Wednesday to share updates on the 2024-25 budget, which was approved by the CMS Board of Education (BOE) at its meeting on Tuesday, as well as the district’s Strategic Plan and other initiatives. The approved budget, originally…
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Atrium and CMS to Launch Early College High School Program
Atrium Health and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on Thursday announced plans to launch an early-college high school program to provide students with career paths in the health care industry, which currently faces a workforce shortage. The $250-million initiative is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ mission to address the health care workforce shortage and…
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OPINION: Stop Calling Our Schools ‘Bad’
It’s lottery enrollment season for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) — that exceedingly fraught time of year when thousands of families cast lots as computers generate and spit out semi-random assignment lists that will determine their child’s educational fate. It is also the time of year when questions about schools pop up…
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Charlotte Bilingual Preschool Begins Renovations at New NoDa Location
School leaders, staff, developers and community members gathered at the site of the new Charlotte Bilingual Preschool (CltBP) location in NoDa on Tuesday for a “demo day” ceremony. With sledgehammers in hand, the group demolished the first wall of the building, officially marking the beginning of a renovation project that…
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CMS Board Approves New Roadmap for Strategic Plan, Budget Priorities
After six months of research and fine-tuning, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Board of Education on Tuesday approved its 2024-’29 Goals and Guardrails, setting a roadmap for the superintendent in creating the district’s 2024-’29 strategic plan and guiding CMS budget priorities during that time. Following a community listening and data analysis…
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What’s in the CMS Bond Referendum?
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) hosted a designer’s showcase at South Mecklenburg High School on Thursday, featuring five proposed projects in the $2.5-billion school bond referendum that is currently on the ballot in Mecklenburg County, with early voting having kicked off on Oct. 19. Learn more: Mecklenburg County Election Guide 2023 The…
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Local Democrats Raise Questions About CMS Unity Slate
School board elections during non-presidential election years aren’t always at the front of mind for the average voter — for those without children, even less so. With three seats up for grabs in this year’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education race, there may be some candidates who hope to take…
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CMS Struggles to Confront Youth Mental Health Crisis
In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health, and research and reporting has shown the trend to only be worsening since then. In the 2021 Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey conducted by the CDC, data showed 44% of U.S. high school…
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New CMS Express Stops Become Source of Consternation Among Parents
An increase in magnet programs has resulted in a growing demand for transportation at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and with the district-wide student population increasing regularly and bus driver vacancies occurring annually, the district has been exploring new ways to consolidate its transportation needs. One such project was approved during a December…
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Second Ward High School Celebrates a Century of Legacy
They come from all over the country, says Arthur Griffin, to return to their home. It’s five days before a centennial celebration of Second Ward High School, Charlotte’s first public high school for Black students. Griffin, a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Board of Education member, current Mecklenburg County Commissioner and…
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CMS Parents, Teachers Complain of Broken HVAC Units as School Starts
A post from Ashley Arnold, parent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) students, revealed on Tuesday that the air conditioning at North Academy of World Languages’ (NAWL) was down as temperatures neared 90 degrees during the first days of school. “This is UNSAFE, especially on multiple floor buildings where HEAT RISES!” the…
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Public School Strong Pushes Back on Movement to Undermine Public Education
Leaving the public forum at a Union County Public Schools (UCPS) Board of Education meeting in mid-July, it was easy to see how the mood had shifted among speakers with Public School Strong, an organization formed to fight in defense of public schooling and progressive values. The half-dozen speakers were…
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CMS Board Approves New Sex Ed, LGBTQ, Parental Rights Policies
Emotions ran high during Tuesday night’s Charlotte Mecklenburg School’s (CMS) Board of Education meeting as the board approved one new student health policy and modifications to three other policies in order to bring the district into compliance with newly passed anti-LGBTQ legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly. The meeting’s…
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Former Teacher Sues Charlotte Secondary School for ‘Critical Race Theory’ Firing
Charlotte teacher Markayle Gray has filed a lawsuit against a charter school in southeast Charlotte after he says he was wrongfully terminated for assigning students a critically acclaimed novel that white parents called “racially divisive.” In a press release issued on June 14, Gray’s attorneys accuse Charlotte Secondary School, a…
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