No, all comments from the community meetings will be considered before making a staff recommendation to the Board of Education. The community meetings provide valuable input to staff.
Will one of the discussion options be the staff recommendation?
Possibly, but after the community meetings and all input is received, one or two “community options” are developed and posted on the CMS website. Information by email from the public may continue. The staff recommendation may consist of one of the discussion or community options or a combination of options.
What is the typical size of an elementary school, middle and high school?
Elementary - 39 classrooms; approximately 90,000 sq. ft. Middle - 54 classrooms; approximately 130,000 sq. ft. High - 100 classrooms; approximately 260,000 sq. ft.
Why aren’t school buildings larger so that attendance areas can be more significant?
Based on educational best practices, elementary schools are built to accommodate 800 students, middle schools, 1200 students, and high schools, 2000 students. If schools are over capacity, then mobile units are added if space on the school property can accommodate the units.
How is the building capacity calculated for elementary, middle, and high?
Building capacity is calculated as a ratio of classroom teachers allotted versus total students assigned. Building capacity is based on but different from building utilization. Capacity will vary from school to school and from year to year due to student-weighted staffing ratios.
Building utilization is based on the number of classroom teachers assigned to a school and the number of classrooms available. Since elementary students remain with one teacher all day, when there are 39 classroom teachers assigned (100% utilization), the school is considered to be fully utilized.
Teachers have students three periods out of four each day at the middle and high school levels, with one planning period. The planning period allows another teacher to “float” into the classroom that students would otherwise have unoccupied. Floating allows four teachers to share three classrooms and ensures that each classroom is used by students each period of the day.
In both these cases, this represents 100% utilization. Capacity is, therefore, a function of dividing the number of assigned students by the number of allotted classroom teachers to determine an average ratio. This average is then multiplied by the number of available teaching stations. While it is understood that not every classroom will be at the average number of students, this method allows for consideration of the diverse offerings and placements within a given school.
Do the dots on the maps represent only CMS students? Do we have demographic information on 2-3 year-olds and private/charter schools?
The dots are CMS students only; we do not have data for private and charter students.
The Department of Public Instruction has charter school demographics on its website. However, it is reported as a total number of students; geographic areas do not break it down.
Who determines the boundary options?
The Planning Services staff. Current elementary boundaries served as the building blocks to develop middle or high school boundaries. Each elementary boundary feeds into one or more middle school(s) and into one or more high school(s) boundaries. In addition to feeder patterns, school boundaries were developed considering elements such as major streets and roadways, railroads, creeks, where possible.
How did you forecast the projected enrollment student growth numbers?
We used past CMS student data per school boundary area to calculate the growth in the future student population for each area. Mecklenburg County offices also provided planning information about the locations of new subdivisions and residential rezoning developments that could add additional students to each school.
Will the format of the meetings be the same?
Yes, the meetings are set up with the intention that participants only have to attend one meeting.
How do we know that the community suggestions were included in the boundary process? How will we be made aware of new options before the Public Hearing?
Planning will send out an email to inform those that new information, maps, etc., has been posted to the website (email is sent to those that submit contact details at boundary workshop). This year, schools will notify the parents through a newsletter or flyer about the boundary process, and the CMS Communications department will facilitate getting the news to all other mediums.
