Parent Lisa McMillan of Huntersville protested the closing of Davidson IB Monday. (Karen Cimino Wilson/DavidsonNews.net)

Davidson IB Middle School parents who attended a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board work session Monday to protest plans to close the school said they were disappointed by how little time the board spent discussing the magnet program’s future.

“It was surprising that it was so brief,” said Ruth Pilsbury, president of the Davidson IB Middle Parent Teacher Student Association. “We’re just still disappointed they are still considering closing the school.”

School board continues to refine plan, adjusts closing list, provides savings estimates. See CMS press release below.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools and the school board are conducting a broad review of school functions this fall, in part to cut costs. Davidson IB Middle School, on South Street near downtown Davidson, is on a list of schools that could be closed under the current version of the overhaul plans. CMS officials say the school is among the most expensive to operate and is housed in an aging building that would require costly repairs to keep open.

Under the plan, the north Mecklenburg international baccalaureate program would become a school-within-a-school at Alexander Middle School in Huntersville in the 2011-12 school year. School officials briefly mentioned the plan Monday, and talked more about what the move would mean in practical terms, and how it would improve the IB program.

For one thing, the Davidson IB name would no longer be used, Superintendent Peter Gorman said.

“In general, our locations are named,” Mr. Gorman said.  “When you close a school and move it to a new location, it takes on the name of the new location.”

Mr. Gorman said the majority of Davidson IB’s staff would move to Alexander Middle School because many of the teachers have been specially trained to teach in the IB program.

The Davidson IB Middle School facility would be either demolished or made available for sale to avoid additional investment in the building.

School officials said relocating the Davidson IB program would strengthen the track for students from international baccalaureate programs at Blythe Elementary to the middle school program and then to North Mecklenburg High School.

The change would also allow the district to decrease operating costs and avoid making a capital investment at the Davidson facility.

CHANGES COME WITH COSTS, TOO

Mr. Gorman said all of the changes proposed in the district’s Comprehensive Review process would total about a $6.2 million savings in future years. The first year of the change, there would be one-time costs of about $2.8 million to make the changes.

“These are preliminary numbers. There are some numbers not even in here yet,” Mr. Gorman said.

The cost of the Davidson IB program was one reason it was included in the Comprehensive Review, which is a board and staff effort to improve efficiency and save money across the district.

Davidson IB is the most expensive middle school magnet program to operate in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. It has 258 students this year in the sixth through eighth grades. Last year, before district-wide budget cuts, it cost $8,565 per student annually to operate.

While there may be financial justifications for the move, some parents are unhappy about the plan.

“I just think that the school system is so challenged. Davidson IB is one of the brightest spots,” said Lisa McMillan of Huntersville, whose son Ben is in the 7th grade there. “It’s something the school system should be proud of.”

Ms. McMillan came with a sign to protest the closing of the school, along with about 10 parents.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to destroy a program that’s gotten such wide acclaim on a national level,” Ms. McMillan said.

Davidson IB Middle has a 98.7 percent proficiency rating, which means nearly all of the students there perform at or above grade level on standardized math and reading tests. Recently, the school was named the best middle school magnet program in the country.

Parent Ellyn Baeszler of Davidson also protested at the school board meeting Monday. (Karen Cimino Wilson/DavidsonNews.net)

Parents said they do not believe the school would be the same if it becomes part of Alexander Middle School. They say the location in the Davidson community and near Davidson College plays a vital role in school’s academic success.

“It won’t be the same school,” said Ellyn Baeszler, whose daughter Emily is a seventh-grader at Davidson IB. “It’s the death of Davidson IB, a small close-knit community.”

CMS PRESS RELEASE

Here’s the text of the press release issued after Monday’s session, with links to documents.

Board of Education reviews school closings, other changes

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 11, 2010 – The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education held a three-hour work session Oct. 11 to review staff proposals for school consolidations, closings and other changes. The work session was another in a five-month series of meetings and community forums intended to help the Board conduct a comprehensive review of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

The Oct. 11 meeting focused on further refinement of the proposal first brought forward by staff Sept. 28, as well as a review of the financial and human-resources aspects of the changes. More than 70 of the district’s 178 schools will be affected by the proposal if it is adopted by the Board. A vote is scheduled Nov. 9.

A spreadsheet presented to the Board during the Oct. 11 meeting showed an initial estimate of potential savings and costs associated with the proposal, as well as possible staffing implications. In all, the staff estimated that the changes would save CMS about $3.3 million in the first year, with that savings rising to more than $6 million the second year.

“These are preliminary numbers – we will continue to work on them,” Superintendent Peter C. Gorman told the Board.

The current proposal would provide targeted assistance to nearly 30 schools to improve school quality and public perception, and also to help schools deal with mobility issues (a very transient student population). Some of the 30 schools are academically challenged. Others are perceived as academically challenged by families who opt out of them, despite significant progress in recent years. Still others have mobility issues and academic challenges.

The proposal would also adjust boundaries for two elementary schools and a middle school. It would close eight schools, consolidate three others and relocate three more. One school would be consolidated and relocated and 17 others would have new or expanded programs that would add students and staff.

New to the list of schools proposed for closing was Lincoln Heights Elementary. Staff suggested closing Lincoln Heights and using its building for Villa Heights, a small and highly effective magnet program. The staff also added a third school, Bruns Avenue Elementary, to a list of schools that would serve pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Another refinement would affect Phillip O. Berry and Harding University by closing the math and science magnet program at Harding (the school would retain its International Baccaulaureate program) and opening a new one at Phillip O. Berry. The staff also proposed moving Morgan School, which serves exceptional children, to the site now occupied by Oakhurst Elementary and closing that school.

A community forum on changes proposed for schools in the West Charlotte area will be held Oct. 12 at the Government Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
DOCUMENTS

To see the spreadsheet detailing the changes and cost savings by schools, click here.

To see the slide presentation from the Oct. 11 meeting, click here.