Winners plus

[Scoop]

Groups representing both sides of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools deconsolidation effort have been invited to a roundtable discussion today on pupil assignment issues, and representatives from several organizations say they plan to attend.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/charlotte+mecklenburg+schools/SIG=11sjvuv0s/*http%3A//www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/11357913.htm

[Staff]

Info on meeting

601 E. Trade St.
Charlotte NC 28078
Law Enforcement Building

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&address=601+E.+Trade+st&city=Charlotte&state=nc&zipcode=

[Scoop]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Concern over Charlotte-Meckelnburg Schools has one local agency working closer with parents. The group, called Winners Plus Agency, held a town meeting style forum Sunday to discuss CMS issues, specifically student assignment.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/charlotte+mecklenburg+schools/SIG=1299n3jo9/*http%3A//www.news14charlotte.com/content/local_news/?ArID=91036&SecID=2

[Scoop]

A diverse group of parents and elected officials debated Sunday about whether the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school assignment plan was working. Some criticized the plan for resegregating schools and creating crowding.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/charlotte+mecklenburg+schools/SIG=128tultc9/*http%3A//www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/living/education/11363719.htm

[Scoop]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Mecklenburg County parents who oppose the school district's student assignment plan clashed Sunday while discussing the best way to cure the ills of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/charlotte+mecklenburg+schools/SIG=12d4imotn/*http%3A//www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=91048

[Staff]

"Pinnard, who is a resident of north Charlotte, said the district cannot cap student populations and wipe out the home school guarantee. Meanwhile, McLamb says parents need to agree on some solution because schools are overcrowded and lack balance in terms of funding. She says using test scores to determine where students will attend school is a real option."
http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=91048

My response: I don't know the answers to school assignment and didn't try to solve them at this meeting. Instead, I shared an anecdote with the group about my experience moving here and working with a realtor. The realtor would not show me houses in Cabarrus County because (at the time 8 years ago) they were discussing Caps on schools because of Overcrowding.

There are many factors influencing families decisions where to move in the area, one of them is the experience of a realtor. Many families with children are moving to the surrounding counties and Not Mecklenburg county. What factors are influencing these families today?

[Staff]

De Shauna McLamb board chair of the Winners Plus Agency clarifies statement made at the town meeting April 10, 2005 regarding stand on using EOG scores only when it comes to assigning students.

Various ideas have been discussed with several parents and concerned leaders from social economics, EOG testing and etc. The Winners Plus agency is effectively seeking ways to bridge these interests together. The Winners Plus Agency motto is we pull together as one “Because as winners we care so we all stay focused on parents and children.”

As McLamb mentioned Tuesday evening April 12, 2005 at the CMS board meeting Winners Plus was open to listen and take into consideration other views from the public.

McLamb wants the public to know the Winners Plus agency is listening and we do care. Their next meeting will be April 20, from 7-9 pm at Greenville Memorial AME Zion Church 6116 Monteith Drive.

Contact 704 890-4101 for further information.

[Staff]

As reported in the above news articles I attended the Meeting Sunday sponsored by Winners Plus agency, moderated by Mr. Dwayne Collins.

I was honored to be invited to this meeting and felt warmly welcomed when I arrived. Our goal was to share perspectives and reduce polarization between different groups on educational issues.

The media spin on our meeting focused on tension and what we don't agree upon. I personally did not feel tense and I enjoyed our discussions. We had agreed beforehand that it was ok to disagree with each other.

I look forward to a series of these meetings. In the future I think all involved will be more careful to ask the media to leave the room so we can have productive conversations and build friendships.

Thank you to Ms. De Shauna McLamb and Mr. Dwayne Collins for putting this group together. I was proud to be a part of it.

Christine Pinard

[Staff]

GAIN KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS HAVE PLANNED FOR YOUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE




DISCUSSION POINTS:
Ø EDUCATING PARENTS ON GUIDING PRINCIPLES SET BY CMS
Ø UNDERSTANDING ZONES (ZONES/NO ZONES)
Ø MIXED STUDENT POPULATION TO MAXIMIZE EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN



LOCATION: GREENVILLE MEMORIAL AME ZION CHURCH

6116 MONTIETH DRIVE CHARLOTTE, NC 28227

DATES: APRIL 20, 2005

TIME: 7PM – 9PM

For more info please contact Ms. DeShauna L. McLamb (704)890-4101

[Staff]

Features > January 3, 2003

Here Comes the Neighborhood

Charlotte and the resegregation of America’s public schools.

By Damien Jackson

Excerpt...



While most black Charlotte residents say they should have access to good schools in their own neighborhoods, and some of them insist the burden of busing was placed disproportionately on their black children, most are quick to clarify that such sentiment does not reflect abandonment of the ideals of desegregation. “The customary line has been that we need to keep diversity in our schools,” says Blanche Penn, a parent leader and the director of the West Charlotte Community Center. “I haven’t heard anyone say otherwise.”

Apparently, Charlotte residents are still largely committed to the concepts of integration and equity in funding. Griffin and other pro-desegregation African-Americans were recently re-elected to the school board by substantial margins over white advocates of neighborhood schools.

Even so, says Stoney Sellers, a prominent Charlotte businessman and community activist, it’s ultimately a question of limited resources in a rapidly growing city. “At some point, as the growth continues, will the community choose school equity first, or will the money follow the development of all the new schools we’re building?” Sellers asks. “Seven to 10 years down the road, how will our communities look then?”

“I am more concerned that a child is succeeding rather than if that child is in a diverse setting or not,” says Lindalyn Kakadelis, a former school board member and teacher in Charlotte, who argues that diversity is an imprecise term “since we’re almost at a point in America where white is a minority.” Kakadelis says “the bottom line is student achievement,” and she’s “so tired of people making excuses” for low achievers and acting like “victims” of poverty and other social ills. “What I’m for,” she adds, is “pushing everybody to succeed in their own schools.”

“We know it’s not just about integration or sitting in the same classrooms with whites,” Sellers counters. His concerns are educational quality, the distribution of resources and academic achievement. “School desegregation wouldn’t have meant much if there had been no impact on educational achievement.”

“If we had the money, the certified teachers and everything we needed in our neighborhood schools, then I wouldn’t have a problem with segregated schools,” Penn says. “But we know that’s not going to happen. The resources follow the folks with the money.”

For Penn, it’s back to the future. “Putting kids back in neighborhood schools brings back memories,” she says, recalling her own experiences as a teen-age student at all-black West Charlotte High. “We got all the old, leftover books.” She quickly adds that the African-American community “doesn’t want leftovers.”


Read more...
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/533/