CHARLOTTE -- One of the biggest goals of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education is to increase diversity in schools under its new student assignment plan.
The board met Tuesday to take a small step toward that goal by finding ways to give kids in failing schools more options to leave their feeder pattern. Board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart says she hopes the overall plan will prevent generational poverty.
“And now we have the next generation coming into that same situation, and I think that's unconscionable,” said Ellis-Stewart.
The board is trying to figure out how to give priority to students in failing schools to enter the magnet school choice lottery, but another issue is overcrowding in those already popular programs and whether the district will have enough seats to make an effective change.
“I think the change is right, but is it going to be a change we're going to be able to do even if we make the policy different because we're not going to have places for them to go?” said Tom Tate, a CMS board member.
The school board also needs to decide whether to change its policy on feeder patterns, so that if a student gets into a magnet school, they would be able to continue in that pattern instead of going back to their home school when they reach the next level.
“I’m all for, once they get into and thrive in a high performing atmosphere, we can't throw them back, we just can't,” said Thelma Byers-Bailey, a CMS board member.
But creating a new magnet school plan is just a small step in reaching the district's biggest goals of giving greater access to all to students. It's a process that could take a long time.
“We need to figure out how to move the needle faster for students because our students can't wait,” said Ellis-Stewart.
The school board will hear another update on student assignment and what parents and community members would like to see at its next meeting in September.
The board plans to vote on these changes for phase one of the plan in November.