- Tackling fear and indifference
Aug. 12, 2016
From a commentary published in Educate! on April 22, 2005 in the days immediately following the resignation of Supt. James Pughsley.
The community can tackle the big issues of ...
- Integration is ‘about reconstituting what we have, including ourselves’
July 1, 2016
Comments at a 2002 UNC Chapel Hill conference by john a. powell, currently a Berkeley School of Law professor, as first published in Educate!, Sept. 5, 2002:
Produce a ...
- The search for consensus in a divided community
June 16, 2016; first published in Educate! Feb. 3, 2002
From a report headlined “Board Retreat: 3 one-act plays; School board hears good news about goals achieved, bad news about prospects ...
- Gangs: High schools beefing up security forces to meet rising challenge
June 11, 2016; first published in Educate!, March 3, 2006
Supt. Jim Pughsley said CMS is adding security associates at high schools as evidence increases of gang activity.
“Some situations we are ...
- ‘A Superintendent Speaks’
Taking guise of a candidate for a top schools position, longtime reformer calls for fundamental cultural change to refocus public schools on children’s needs
July 9, 2016; originally published in Educate!, Aug. ...
- A summer hiatus
June 8, 2016
Starting Thursday, the Fellowship’s board will be on hiatus for the summer. This site may be just as active, or more likely less so, as members disperse.
But to ...
- Average class size, by school
March 10, 2016
For all CMS K-5 and K-8 schools, the average number of students per classroom, in descending order:
Hawk Ridge 22.44
Davidson 22.13
Prov. Spring 21.98
Eliz. Lane 21.74
Park Road 21.54
Polo Ridge 21.49
Washam ...
- Where the mobiles are
March 7, 2016
For all CMS K-5 and K-8 schools, the perentage of all classrooms at a school that are outside in mobile units.
Collinswood 51.1%
Park Road 50.0%
Albemarle Road 46.2%
Windsor Park 43.5%
Montclaire ...
- Conference to ‘imagine a path forward,’ 45 years after Swann
March 6, 2016
The flier above is for a conference to be held Saturday, April 2 at the UNC School of Law, 160 Ridge Rd., Chapel Hill. Entitled “Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg at ...
- Independent eyes
Dec. 11, 2014
Two conversations at the Fellowship’s meeting this morning bore on current topics of public interest.
Procedural oversight
CMS board member Eric Davis continues to suggest publicly that the school board ...
- The ‘culture of fear’
Nov. 7, 2014
We used to see it in schoolhouses in the ’70s and ’80s. Some teachers lived in fear of old-school principals who could wield unchecked power on a campus ...
- VOTE: It’s your future
Source: democracync.org
Oct. 11, 2014
“Black turnout dropped by 3.7 percentage points more than white turnout in Kansas, and by 1.5 percentage points more than whites in Tennessee after voter ID laws ...
- A turning point in Ferguson?
Aug. 15, 2014
Perhaps Ferguson, Missouri will once again bend the arc of history toward justice.
After many nights of horrific conflict reminiscent of the 1960s, Highway Patrol officials walked with protesting ...
- ‘Hot Topic’ of the day is…
July 6, 2014
“Welcome to my new page!” Heath Morrison wrote as he launched a “Heath’s Hot Topics” blog last year. “So much of my job has to do with communicating ...
- ‘Don’t ever, ever shy away from a good struggle’
June 20, 2014
“Science actually shows that when you’re struggling to solve a problem or to understand a concept, you’re forming new pathways and connections in your brain.
“So struggling isn’t a ...
- New CMS board faces immediate test of direction
Dec. 10, 2011
Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting allows the public an opportunity to speak out on how to serve the district’s high-needs children.
The Eric Smith superintendency of 1996-2002 saw the ...
- A new Board of Education
Dec. 14, 2011
Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting marked the installation of new members and the beginning of a new chapter in the board’s work.
We congratulate Ericka Ellis-Stewart, lower left, who ...
- Reviewing school board election results
Nov. 10, 2011
The Fellowship’s regular monthly board meeting always seems to fall two days after a school board election, so it has been a tradition for the Fellowship to gather ...
- Thanks for all who ran for CMS board; congrats to winners
Nov. 8, 2011
Today’s victory by Ericka Ellis-Stewart, Mary McCray and Tim Morgan closes out a long and difficult, if possibly momentous, election for the CMS Board of Education.
But first let ...
- At-large school board candidates interviewed on 10 topics
Sept. 30, 2011, from material from 26 pages originally posted on or before Sept. 30, 2011
Fourteen candidates in the 2011 election for three at-large seats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of ...
- What type of leader?
June 9, 2011
Within an hour of my hearing the news of Dr. Gorman’s departure, a retired journalist all but stuck a microphone in my face and asked what kind of ...
- ‘Segregation is an educational and social disease’
March 20, 2011
“Segregation is an educational and social disease. Sometimes its impacts are ameliorated for a while in some places, but the broad relationship is clear and strong.
“Isolation by poverty, ...
- School board decisions on budget cuts
Feb. 8, 2011
On Bright Beginnings:
Delayed until Feb. 8 meeting
Voting to delay: Eric Davis, Rhonda Lennon, Richard McElrath, Kaye McGarry, Trent Merchant, Tim Morgan, Tom Tate, Joyce Waddell.
Delayed until regular budget ...
- Gorman on how to treat children
Jan. 27, 2011
… treat every child in the community like they were your own child.”
– Supt. Peter Gorman in Jan. 27, 2011 interview with qcitymetro.com
The quote above was taken from ...
- Redirect anger over proposed budget cuts
Jan. 9, 2011
To the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community:
Have we in a year’s time lost 8% or 10% of our interest in our children? Do we think 8% or 10% less of their ...
- Marchers protest cuts to westside schools
Oct. 16, 2010
About 200 protesters walked from the Federal Courthouse to The Square to protest proposed closings of Waddell High and other westside schools.
WBTV’s coverage was here, but had been ...
- Arrests at a school board hearing
Oct, 13, 2010
Video above posted to YouTube by charpost on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010.
The Post’s story on the arrests at Tuesday’s CMS hearing is here.
The Post’s story on Tuesday’s hearing ...
- CMS enrollment grows a bit more than expected
Sept. 29, 2010
CMS student enrollment growth has slowed since the recession, and as recently as this summer CMS officlals foresaw only about 1,300 new students. Instead, at the 20th day, ...
- ‘New Study Finds Big Racial Gap in Suspensions of Middle School Students’
Sept. 14, 2010
The statement from the Civil Rights project came under this headline: “New Study Finds Big Racial Gap in Suspensions of Middle School Students.”
“Middle schools across the country,” Project ...
- Nonprofits’ exempt status with IRS in jeopardy
Aug. 27, 2010
More than 700 Mecklenburg-based nonprofit organizations face revocation of their tax-exempt status uniess people involved with the organizations take action by Oct. 15.
The list includes PTAs, homeowner associations, ...
- A sig for our times in CMS history
Aug. 12, 2010
A sig for our times in CMS history:
- No Child Left Behind status may figure in school-closings decisions for 2011
Aug. 6, 2010
The “No Child Left Behind” status of some schools may figure in school-closings decisions for 2011.
- A comment by Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx on schools
Jan. 17, 2010
A comment by Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx on schools:
- Spurt of communication, and then…
Jan. 2, 2010
Graphic shows numbers of superintendent’s community addresses posted to his website, by year.
- Election night’s winners face the uncertainties ahead
Nov. 3, 2009
On election night: These nine face the uncertainties ahead for the CMS school board.
- NC law allows parents to report schools failing at their job
Sept. 10, 2009
From the North Carolina General Statutes, and worthy of being read aloud at every PTA meeting at every struggling public school. State law gives PTAs the right to bypass ...
- Including parents in an important re-visioning to improve education
July 21, 2009
From the July 21 NC Justice News, published by Raleigh-based N.C. Justice Center:
“EDUCATION: Involving Parents in Personal Education Plans
“House Bill 804, a measure that would amend the law ...
- Future depends on how we support single working mothers
May 17, 2009
Researcher Gary Orfield argues for more societal support for single working mothers. Report here. PR sheet here.
- Assignment proposal 1999 – bad then, worse now
Feb. 9, 2009
The economic downturn has county and school budgets under stress. Supt. Peter Gorman is talking about merging failing schools, about eliminating hundreds of teachers, raising class size, probably ...
- Educating all children – by design
Feb. 5, 2009
From left above, Mickey Aberman, Deacon Jones, Jim Henderlite and Araminta Johnston listen as the voice of the Century Foundation’s Richard Kahlenberg, shown at left, comes over the ...
- Equity Report terms improvements ‘insufficient’
Feb. 1, 2009
This graphic appeared on the front of this website shortly after CMS released its 2009 Equity Report. The full archive of such reports is here.
- Training available for prospective school board members
Sept. 24, 2008
Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education will sponsor training for potential school board members on Nov. 1.
- Talk to focus on ‘crisis of working poverty’
Sept. 13, 2008
An upcoming talk by The Rev. Aleia Salvatierra will focus on “crisis of working poverty.” The link referred to in the box above has gone bad.
- ‘Education and Poverty’ paper discussed on ‘Charlotte Talks’
Aug. 20, 2008
On WFAE’s “Charlotte Talks,” Fellowship board members, a school board member and a family court judge discuss “Education and Poverty” paper.
If children haven’t mastered the basic skills for ...
- School issues put on the table
Aug. 14, 2008
Fellowship holds community discussion of “Education and Poverty in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.”
Discussion of paper on poverty draws unusual participants – outspoken teachers
Tuesday’s community discussion put on the table a ...
- Gorman’s decisions on moving principals
May 28, 2008
CMS Supt. Peter Gorman told the school board May 27 that he would move seven principals, demoting or transferring incumbents who have led seven schools where academic improvement ...
- Congratulations to all area graduates
May 21, 2008
The sky appears to send down congratulations to those preparing to put mortarboards on their heads and graduate from CMS.
- Construction needs vs. lottery revenue
March 21, 2008
The N.C. Forum’s Friday Report compared five-year school construction needs with expected revenue from N.C. education lottery.
- Students report having been in a physical fight
March 1, 2008
CMS students reporting having been in a physical fight: Data from the 2007 CMS Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
- Students reporting being home alone after school
Feb. 27, 2008
CMS students reporting being home alone after school: Data from the 2007 CMS Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
