Fluctuation in frozen precipitation prompts CMS split discussion

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By Elsa Gillis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The southern parts of Mecklenburg County looked vastly different from the northern parts of the county Monday with some areas still iced over, while others were dry.

"As you can see, there's no snow, the roads are clear," said Matthews resident Stan Johnson, looking at his road.

Meanwhile in Huntersville, residents saw a different scene.

“Our street is icy, the driveways are iced over" Huntersville resident Brianna Wooden said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools canceled classes for the second day in a row on Tuesday after the weekend winter storm.

Matthews Mayor Jim Taylor said issues like that are why the town is seriously looking into other options.

"Providing our own system to the community, looking at what options we could recommend to CMS and possibly splitting up CMS into three sections, north, middle and south, or remaining within the larger system."

The same task force exploring splitting from CMS over its student-assignment plan is also considering these snow days as a reason why it might make sense.

"It's such a dramatic difference in what the impacts are to the community," Taylor said.

"Especially on days where it's like this and it's multiple days in a row that the school is closed, because other areas of the county are not passable. That can be a problem," Matthews parent Helen Bergeman said.

Despite the mayor and some parents shaking their heads, they all acknowledge Mecklenburg County is a huge district and CMS has a challenging call to make.

In regards to closing school CMS said:

"Despite daylong efforts to remove ice from parking lots and walkways at school campuses in all nine learning communities, there (are) still significant amounts of dangerous ice in many areas. Five tons of ice melt have been used thus far and 750 pounds will be spread tonight and tomorrow."

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