Vote scheduled over boundaries of crowded south Charlotte high schools

CHARLOTTE — There’s a new plan to shuffle thousands of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students to different south Charlotte high schools.

The proposed boundaries were made with the goal of accommodating the new relief school along North Community House Road.

The changes are needed because the area is exploding with growth, but the proposal doesn’t come without controversy.

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“Oh it’s very challenging, because I want to make everyone happy and it is very upsetting that not everyone is happy with it,” CMS Director Claire Schuch told Channel 9′s Dan Matics.

Schuch has the tough job of drawing the new map. The district has to come up with the final plan over who will be assigned to the new high school.

Boundaries for four CMS high schools — Ardrey Kell, Myers Park, Providence and South Mecklenburg — will all change when the relief high school opens in August 2024.

“No, we are not going to be able to make everyone happy unfortunately, but we do hope everyone will get on board and make their new school their own,” Schuch said.

Most of the concerns are over how the socioeconomic status of those schools might be impacted. That does concern Jeanine Craft, but she’s relieved about one thing: Previous versions of the map would have had her children switching schools, but now they won’t have to.

“I’m happy with the way it ended for our school, but I think there is more research that needs to be done so all students have more parity,” Craft said.

Craft said even though her daughters won’t have to relocate, she thinks CMS needs to do more research before voting on this final draft.

“Going to the meetings you definitely saw that there is a need for further research,” she said. “I mean you want equity for every student.”

Students who will be juniors or seniors in the 2024 to 2025 school year can choose stay at their current school, but they won’t be given a bus route.

District officials will not be going back to the drawing board. The proposal will be presented to the board next Tuesday and they will vote on June 6.

The public can still give feedback through the CMS website until Sunday. Those comments will also be presented to the board.

The school board is expected to approve the changes because they’ve heavily been involved in drawing the map. If a problem came up, they could send it back for adjustments.

The updated school boundaries don’t just impact the high schools -- they impact elementary and middle schoolers as well.

(PREVIOUS: Leaders lay out timeline, framework for relief high school in southern Meck County)