Would it save money to fold the small but successful program at Davidson IB Middle into a larger school building somewhere else?  Will Hough High open this fall?  How will it impact North Meck?

These were the kinds of questions school board representative Rhonda Lennon took on at a meeting with about 100 constituents Monday night at Cornelius Town Hall.  She wondered aloud whether Davidson IB is too small and expensive to stay as is, said she wanted to see the new W.A. Hough High School in Cornelius open on schedule in August, and hoped North Mecklenburg High School parents would come to terms with the boundary changes the board has approved.

The Charlotte Mecklenburg school board meets today (Tuesday, March 30) to discuss its options for cutting up to $80 million from its 2010-11 budget. Those options include hundreds of school layoffs, pay cuts, and school closings – with Davidson IB Middle School under scrutiny. Today’s meeting could provide a clearer picture of what the board will ultimately decide to cut when it votes on the budget April 13.

Ms. Lennon was elected in December to represent the school board’s District 1, which covers north Mecklenburg County, including 29 schools in Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville and Charlotte.  She told Monday night’s audience this was the first District 1 School Board town meeting she was aware of. She also described her new job as overwhelming and “a lot of work,” but said she loves serving her district.

“I’m trying to be responsive,” she said.

Ms. Lennon spent most of the meeting reviewing proposals for how the board might deal with a projected $80 million budget shortfall for the upcoming school year.  She said the school board’s April 13 budget vote will likely include:

• laying off teachers
• ending dental insurance for CMS staff
• curtailing bus service to magnet schools
• consolidating administrative learning centers
• cutting middle school sports, or turning programs into a “pay to play” option

Cuts may also require increasing class sizes.  Ms Lennon said that might mean bumping up K-3rd grade classes from 17 students to 22 students per classroom.

“We are under the state ratios,” she noted.

CHANGES COMING FOR DAVIDSON IB MIDDLE?

The budget crisis will likely require decisions about closing or consolidating schools.

“I will push to close schools that are underutilized,” Ms. Lennon said. “We need to look at which ones need a lot of renovation and are very small or very costly.”

When asked specifically if she was referring to Davidson IB Middle, which has only 243 students and is slated for major renovations, Ms. Lennon responded by citing statistics.  She said the per-student cost at Davidson IB is $7,173, while nearby at Bailey Middle in Cornelius, which has about 1,200 students, the cost is $4,636.

“It costs $2,500 more to educate a student at the IB than at Bailey,” she said. “I would not close a program as effective as the IB, but I would look at where it’s being housed.”

She wondered aloud if moving the program into “a nearby facility” would allow the program to expand or become less expensive.

“I was elected as  a fiscal conservative,” she pointed out.

HOUGH HIGH VERSUS NORTH MECK

Several members of the audience asked questions about the opening of William A. Hough High this fall in Cornelius and its impact on North Mecklenburg High in Huntersville.

Ms. Lennon referred to a recent news report by WBTV saying the school board might consider shutting down the North Meck school building and transferring those students into the new Hough High.  That brought applause from the audience, but Ms. Lennon showed no interest in the proposal.

“I don’t support that,” she said. “North Meck needs to stay open.”

She described her own study of whether it would save the school district money to postpone opening both Hough and the new Rocky River High in south Charlotte.  But Ms. Lennon reminded the audience that one of the reasons she became interested in school district politics in the first place was her desire to see more schools opened.  Four years ago when Ms. Lennon’s daughter entered North Meck as a freshman, there were 60 trailers on the campus to handle the overcrowding.  Ms. Lennon said she wanted Hough High and other schools open to relieve that pressure.

“These are $54 million investments,” she said, referring to both Hough and Rocky River.  “We need the seats. I will vote in favor of opening Hough High and keeping North Meck open.”

The discussion became more heated when the topic turned to how the opening of Hough High might increase the percentage of students from economically disadvantaged families at North Meck.  Ms. Lennon challenged those who said CMS had not properly notified the community of how the boundary map for Hough would impact North Meck.

“There was effective communication,” she countered, citing news articles, district phone calls to families, and town websites publicizing a series of meetings last spring about options for setting Hough High boundaries.

Hough High will serve students in Davidson and Cornelius, affluent communities with low numbers of students needing “free or reduced-price lunches” (an indicator school districts use for measuring the rate of poverty in a school).  Ms. Lennon said pulling Davidson and Cornelius out of the North Meck boundary map would inevitably raise the rate of students needing free or reduced lunches at North Meck.  Currently, that rate is about 22 percent at North Meck, but it is projected to jump to 39 percent after the opening of Hough High.  The rate at Hough High, meanwhile, is expected to be about 14-20 percent.

“Why change a suburban school into a (high poverty) school?” asked one member of the audience.

Ms. Lennon said the new boundary for North Meck will include about 210-250 students from West Charlotte High, which last year had over 75 percent of students requiring free or reduced lunches.  She challenged what she described as an attitude among some of her constituents that West Charlotte High students are “gangsters from the ‘hood.”

“We can pull up our bootstraps and make North Meck the best school it can be, or we can argue about boundaries and where these kids come from and make these 250 kids feel unwelcome,” she said.

Ms. Lennon told the gathering that the current school board has shown no inclination to revisit the boundary changes for North Meck, which will go into effect when Hough High opens.

“So I can go to sleep tonight thinking that Hough High is going to open?” asked a member of the audience.

Ms. Lennon assured the man that he could.  She also closed by saying she hoped to hold regular meetings with constituents.

Cornelius Mayor Jeff Tarte expressed his appreciation for that sentiment.

“Rhonda Lennon genuinely cares, and she does her homework,” he said. “I tip my hat to her.”