CMS unveils new maps for south Charlotte high school. Here’s where students could go

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools released proposed feeder patterns Monday for a new high school being built in south Charlotte.

Officials presented the draft scenario to a packed cafeteria at Myers Park High School to gather input and feedback. The district will continue to have community engagement sessions into April before presenting to the school board. Board members are expected to vote on plans May 23.

This is the second time CMS has sought community feedback. Last year, south Charlotte parents rallied around existing boundaries and circulated petitions when draft scenarios emerged.

CMS is redrawing lines because of a new high school under construction at 12218 North Community House Road, near Interstate 485. It will shift feeder patterns in August 2024 and relieve overcrowding at the district’s three largest high schools — Myers Park, Ardrey Kell and South Mecklenburg. Providence High, seven middle schools and 12 elementary schools also would be impacted, according to the presentation.

The district is including a south Charlotte middle school in the engagement sessions that could be part of a nearly $3 billion November bond package. It potentially will relieve overcrowding at Community House, Jay M. Robinson and Rea Farms middle schools.

The earliest the new middle school would open is the 2025-2026 school year. First, Mecklenburg County Commissioners need to put a bond referendum on the ballot, and then voters would have to pass it.

What schools would be impacted?

The new draft for the relief high school would affect students at:

▪ Ardrey Kell, Myers Park, Providence and South Mecklenburg high schools

▪ Carmel, Community House, Crestdale, Jay M. Robinson, Quail Hollow, Rea Farms and South Charlotte middle schools

▪ Ballantyne, Endhaven, McAlpine, Olde Providence, Pineville and Sharon elementary schools.

FULL PRESENTATION: See the full proposal released Monday about south Charlotte boundaries

High school students affected

In the new draft, most high school students in the southernmost tip of Mecklenburg County would attend Ardrey Kell High. Students living in the Ballantyne area and parts of Pineville would attend the new relief high school.

Most of the new high school’s district would sit in the current attendance area for South Mecklenburg High.

South Mecklenburg would draw students from the Sterling, Beverly Woods and Huntingtowne Farms neighborhoods.

Myers Park High would draw students from Sharon, Montclaire and Cotswold neighborhoods, among others. Some students currently in the Myers Park district would be transferred to South Mecklenburg or Providence high schools.

Elementary school changes

In the new draft, the following elementary schools would be rezoned to the relief high school beginning the 2024-25 school year.

▪ Ballantyne Elementary: rezoned from Ardrey Kell High

▪ Endhaven Elementary: southern section rezoned from Ardrey Kell High

▪ Endhaven Elementary: northern section rezoned from South Mecklenburg High

▪ McAlpine Elementary: western section rezoned from South Mecklenburg High

▪ McAlpine Elementary: eastern section rezoned from Providence High

▪ Pineville Elementary: rezoned from South Mecklenburg High.

The southern section of Sharon Elementary’s attendance zone would moved from Myers Park High to South Mecklenburg High, according to the draft plan. The northern section of Olde Providence Elementary zone would be moved from Myers Park High to Providence High.

Middle school changes

While elementary schools would transition in August 2024, the latest draft moves middle school students in the 2025-2026 year.

▪ Students from Community House and the new relief middle schools would attend Ardrey Kell High.

▪ Students from Jay M. Robinson middle school and Quail Hollow students with Pineville addresses would attend the new relief high school.

▪ Students from South Charlotte and parts of Crestdale middle schools would attend Providence High.

▪ Students from Carmel middle and Quail Hollow middle, except those with Pineville address, would attend South Mecklenburg High.

What are parents saying?

A pair of parents started petitions on change.org when CMS shared initial draft scenarios last year.

Laura Grant, a parent who lives in the Myers Park High zone, told The Charlotte Observer in December she’s concerned about the way the district is handling rezoning efforts and wants better transparency. Grant is a parent of a 10th-grade student at Myers Park and seventh-grader at Randolph IB Middle School. Grant started her petition, which now has nearly 1,000 signatures, in late November because current and former parents of Sharon Elementary students do not want to be split off.

In an update to her petition last week Grant wrote Sharon and Carmel students “will indeed be rezoned to South Meck” and “we are being targeted unfairly.”

“Many will have students that are disrupted in the middle of high school, or, like me, would have children at two different high schools,” Grant said.

Late Monday, Grant said she doesn’t understand why CMS will move an estimated 55 children.

“It makes for a longer home to school distance and violates their principle that elementary schools are the feeders to high school,” she said. “We seem to be easy pickings.”

Deborah Martin started a petition on change.org in January asking for CMS to fix the Olde Providence Elementary feeder pattern, which previous draft scenarios will make worse, Martin wrote.

The petition has more than 680 signatures

“The Olde Providence community is overwhelmingly in favor of rezoning all Olde Providence Elementary students to Providence High School,” Martin wrote. The draft proposal Monday would do what those parents have asked.

Parent Christy Gannon, who lives in the Olde Providence Elementary school boundary, says the new draft is the “best news we could have hoped for.”

“However, we acknowledge this current draft is a big change for families,” Gannon said. “We still have concerns about how CMS will handle the grandfathering of students. We are hopeful that they will allow children to finish where they start.”

What’s next

The scenarios CMS released Monday are drafts. Parents are encouraged to attend community engagement sessions on the first proposals at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in South Mecklenburg High School’s cafeteria and via a Zoom meeting noon on Thursday.

Community engagement sessions for the second draft of scenarios are 6:30 p.m. April 19 at Ardrey Kell High School and noon April 20 via Zoom.

Other meetings include 6:30 p.m. April 20 at Providence High School, and noon April 21 via Zoom.

A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m., May 9 during the school board meeting at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center.