|
Few CMS parents speak out In a startling show, only seven Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parents and students stood at the podium Tuesday, Feb. 13, to address two highly debated plans currently before the school board. The public was encouraged to speak on a $2.5 billion 10-year plan for capital projects that has been presented to the public at six recent parent forums. The plan – designed to address growth and eliminate all portable classrooms – calls for the construction of 40 elementary schools, 13 middle schools and 13 high schools. The 10-Year Capital Plan has been developed to accommodate the nearly 500,000 students who will be added to the CMS system in the next decade. The most vocal group during the public forums came from the Olympic Community of Schools, who stressed the need for updates at the facility, which was built in 1965. A group of students presented board members with a list of needed improvements and images of leaking roofs, mold, holes in flooring and outdated classrooms. Blaine Wallace, president of Olympic’s athletic booster club, pleaded for the board to stop improvements at newer schools when Olympic needs funds, especially for its athletic facilities. “Our parents are frustrated. We are frustrated that when we go to Ardrey Kell we see a plush field of carpet and a stadium that is the envy of most junior colleges, if not other CMS high schools,” he said. “But when we return home to play, it’s in a field of Bermuda grass, mud and dirt in a stadium that is outdated, one that has no handicap accessibility, outdated bathrooms or concession stands with no running water. Then we see newer schools move forward on the list of improvements. Where’s the logic? Please don’t forget Olympic.” Charlotte resident Fred Marsh criticized the proposed capital plan for shifting from 60 percent spending in the suburbs and 40 percent in the city (a plan that he noted failed in the last school bond referendum) to the 70 percent/30 percent split the plan now calls for. “The new plan is overwhelmingly biased (against) those living within the I-485 ring. You are basically asking them to raise their taxes by almost $200 million per year on a plan in which they receive almost no benefits,” he said. “It is not a plan for the kids. It’s a plan for some kids.” More than 70 recommendations to reduce CMS’s capital project expenses by nearly $9 million were unveiled at a Jan. 23 board meeting. The recommendations came from the Superintendent’s Standards Review Committee, which has been charged with examining recent CMS capital projects and the guidelines and procedures used to develop them. The group consists of area architects, engineers, educators and city officials. Plans call for eliminating stadiums at future high schools in favor of building regional sports complexes that will be shared by high schools; building regional performing arts facilities for the same reason; reducing the number of parking spaces at high schools; shrinking the size of school kitchens; and even eliminating restrooms in principals’ offices. The SSRC’s recommendations included saving in excess of 10 percent of construction costs on future capital projects. Parents got their first chance to speak about the plan, but no speakers appeared on the public hearing agenda. However, earlier during the capital plan hearing, Rhonda Lennon, who served on the Citizen’s Capital Advisory Committee, spoke up as a “citizen, taxpayer and soccer mom” in favor of the SSRC’s recommendation to eliminate sports facilities, arenas and performing arts facilities at new high schools. “We need seats for our students, not in stadiums or performing arts centers.” CMS will seek board approval of the SSRC plan at a March 13 meeting. In addition to the two public forums, the board allowed comments from residents on a variety of topics. West Charlotte High School students and parents – many of them carrying signs – spoke at length about reforms planned for the struggling school, asking the board to restructure student assignment and push for higher test scores with stronger teachers.
Charlotte Weekly © 2006 Charlotte Weekly. All Rights Reserved |
|
|