Davidson Elementary School students hold a banner asking for help cleaning their school.

The Community School of Davidson will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new high school on Thursday, Aug. 12.

Also below, news about a Monday community cleanup day at Davidson Elementary and other school news.

NEW HIGH SCHOOL RIBBON-CUTTING

Community School of Davidson will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new high school next Thursday, Aug. 12.

Community School of Davidson is a North Carolina Public Charter and is expanding one grade level per year in a new facility located at 404 Armour St., Davidson. The school’s first graduating class will graduate in 2014.

The new school will mark the ribbon-cutting event with song, dance, food, and tours of the newly renovated space, which was formerly home to Liburdi Dimetrics and Turbine Services.

Davidson Mayor John Woods, Chairman of the Board James Beam and Community School of Davidson’s founder and director, Joy Warner, will cut the ribbon formally opening the high school for the 2010-11 school year.

Classes begin on Aug. 16 for all 936 Community School of Davidson students.  The high school joins the school’s existing elementary and middle school facility, which is on Griffith Street.

“The ribbon-cutting promises to be a heartwarming and exciting milestone for everyone associated with our school,” Joyce Burke, the fund-raising chair, said in a statement. “Charter schools here in North Carolina do not receive public capital funding for facilities. Raising the funds to build this high school is an ongoing collaborative effort of the families, local businesses and entire community.”

Community School of Davidson provides an innovative, alternative public school option for the families in our community including families in Iredell, Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Cabarrus and Cleveland counties.

To learn more about Community School of Davidson, visit the Web site at www.csdnc.org.

Business and local sponsorship opportunities are available throughout the school including the full size gym that will host school and community events, competitions and athletic camps.  The next phase of the school will be an arts center that will permanently house a theater and supporting arts classrooms.

5 CMS MUSIC TEACHERS EARN SCHOLARSHIPS

CMS music teachers attend guitar workshop.

Five Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools music teachers earned $9,000 in total scholarships to attend the Teaching Guitar Workshop, which was held at Winthrop University from July 26-30.

The teachers who attended the workshop were: Ruth Peterson, band director at Bailey Middle School; Lynda Pickney, orchestra director at North Mecklenburg and Hopewell high schools; Sonja Smith, band director at Hopewell High School; Deborah Chandler, orchestra director at Carmel Middle School; and Maribeth St. John, band director at Albemarle Road Middle School.

Each teacher received three graduate credits, a guitar, guitar accessories, and instructional materials.

The Teaching Guitar Workshops, sponsored by Music Educators National Conference, Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association, and International Association of Music Merchants, are designed to help teachers establish and expand school guitar programs.

The three organizations have already helped more than 2,000 teachers and 500,000 students through the guitar workshops. The five teachers will be establishing guitar programs at their schools.

DAVIDSON ELEMENTARY CLEANUP MONDAY

Davidson Elementary School invites parents and community members to come out Monday, Aug. 9, to help spruce, polish and prune the school grounds for the new school year, which starts Aug. 25.

The clean up effort will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. A volunteer team from Ingersoll Rand also will work to get the school ready for the new year.

The school also needs supplies to use Monday. Those supplies include: several pressure washers, pruning tools, rags and Windex for window washing blowers, weed eaters and trimmers, shovels, squeegees, rakes, step ladders and ladders buckets.

If you plan to help or provide supplies, call Principal Terry Hall at terryc.hall@cms.k12.nc.us or Krista Riley at kristariley@bellsouth.net.

COLLEGE INFO SEMINAR

College Admissions 101 will host a seminar on Sept. 19 with a panel of college admissions officials to explain the admissions process. The seminar will be from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Levine Jewish Community Center at 5007 Providence Road, Charlotte.

The registration fee is $140 per family for up to four family members. Those who register before Aug. 19, will pay $120 per family. For more information or to register, visit http://collegeadmissions101.org/.

HAVE NEWS?

Write to Karen at karen@davidsonnews.net. Please include a phone number.