CMS board details achievement zone, decentralization offices
Board votes to swap land for new ballpark

Carroll’s report came during a school board meeting Tuesday, May 8, at which board members voted 6-3 to exchange its Second Ward headquarters for office space at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center and $1.38 million to purchase additional space. The land swap is part of a complicated real estate plan that would allow the Charlotte Knights to build a minor-league baseball park uptown.

During his report, Carroll noted that zone schools’ average scores on the state’s writing assessment were 26 percent lower than the average scores for the entire district among elementary schools, 27 percent lower for middle schools and 23 percent for high schools.

Similar gaps exist for reading and math scores on the end-of-grade tests, where score differences range from a 15 percent gap in elementary reading scores to a 32 percent gap in middle school math scores. For the end-of-course composite scores, the gap is 20 percent. The zone for struggling schools was created by CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman as part of the decentralization of the district. The area includes 10 schools and the new Eight-PLUS academy at Midwood to help rising ninth-graders who are struggling. The achievement zone entity will take effect in the 2007-08 school year.

Carroll told the board that a comprehensive literacy plan is being developed for the zone. His group also is working on much-needed staff recruitment and training, improving community perception and identifying how to resolve behavior and discipline problems.

In other meeting news:
• Two area superintendents and a director of global studies and world languages also were approved by the board.
Nancy Bartles and Dr. Elva Cooper were named area superintendents for the learning communities that will take effect next year.

Kelly Price was named director of global studies and world languages. He began his career as a Spanish teacher in Kannapolis.

• CMS staff unveiled office locations for its six learning communities for the 2007-08 school year, created in February to decentralize and move resources closer to the classroom. Each learning community will range in size from approximately 17,000 to 25,000 students. 

The reorganization is part of CMS’s strategic plan to improve services to schools and make the district more responsive to local concerns.

Each learning community, comprising pre-K through high school, will be led by an area superintendent. A seventh area, the achievement zone, serves struggling schools, and its area superintendent and staff will work from the Education Center uptown.

Leases are being negotiated at the following locations:

• 1801 Cross Beam Drive (west office)
• 9201 Baybrook Lane (south office)
• 324 N. McDowell St. (central office)
• 9601 E. Independence Blvd. (east office)
• 2750 E. WT Harris Blvd. (northeast office)
• 16630 Northcross Drive (north office)

Visit www.cms.k12.nc.us and click on “decentralization” to view the learning communities map and for more information.