With bus service being curtailed next year, Davidson IB Middle School officials and parents meet Wednesday evening to talk about transportation options for next year.

Meanwhile, Davidson Day’s mathletes scored recent successes. CMS offers summer Parent University sessions. And guess what faddish kid accessory is now off limits among gradeschoolers?

Details below.

Read the full story

Math teacher Shannon Davis puts the finishing touches on a railcar exhibit. One hundred footprints cover the floor to illustrate the crowded conditions. (Todd Sumlin/The Charlotte Observer)

By JOE MARUSAK
The Charlotte Observer

Carson Light hopes you will always remember the Holocaust.

That’s why Carson, 12, joined her sixth-grade classmates at Community School of Davidson to transform its middle school wing into a Holocaust museum that’s open to the public from 4 to 8 p.m. today only.
Read the full story

Twenty-one students graduated from Davidson Day School in its second graduation ceremony ever on Friday. (Davidson Day photo)

SOURCE: Davidson Day School
The second graduating class in Davidson Day School’s history received diplomas Friday, May 21, at an emotional ceremony outside on the school’s lawn. Twenty-one students graduated from the private school, which is at Jetton and Griffith streets.

Diplomas were award by board chair Karen Wolter following speeches by Head of Upper School Brad Laatsch and Head of School Bonnie Cotter. The keynote speaker was Charles Spiggle, a Davidson Day parent who was a passenger on US Airways Flight 1549, the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson” flight that made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York in January 2009.

Related story: Davidson Day hires Tim Weir as athletic director.

Read the full story

To the Editor:
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools issued a press release and there is a front-page story and editorial in the Charlotte Observer today about results of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), a test that allows us to compare large urban school districts.

This story is significant for two reasons: First, the NAEP is an objective nationwide achievement test and we have very few national comparisons about school district performance. Read the full story

It’s graduation time!  Two local private schools — Davidson Day and Cannon — will kick off the season of pomp and circumstance with commencement ceremonies Friday.  Next month, Woodlawn will hold its first-ever graduation on June 8, while North Mecklenburg High will celebrate its Class of 2010 on June 15.

We have lists of graduates below, plus news of McKinney Academy‘s Spring Fling Saturday on the Davidson Green.  Our school calendar has information about a Hough High marching band orientation session, the Bailey Middle Art Auction and more. Read the full story

Sarah Dyvig, Oakdale Elementary School teacher, was named 2010 teacher of the year in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. (CMS photo)

Lake Davidson resident Sarah Dyvig says she was motivated by her own teachers. Davidson Elementary’s Harrigan one of 5 finalists.

Sarah Dyvig, a second-grade teacher at Oakdale Elementary, gets a hug from her son Tyler, 12, after she was named CMS Teacher of the Year. (Robert Lahser/Charlotte Observer)

By STEVE LYTTLE
The Charlotte Observer

Tyler is 12 years old, well beyond the age when he could be a student in second-grade teacher Sarah Dyvig’s class. But he still remembers seeing her teach.

“I was in her classroom a couple times, and she was so impressive, the way she got all the kids involved,” Tyler recalled. “They loved her.”

Would you want her for your teacher, Tyler?

“Absolutely,” he said. “Mom’s great.” Read the full story

Davidson IB Middle students will not have the hours of their school day pushed back 90 minutes in September, but they will face curtailed bus service.  And all students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will likely see larger class sizes due to teacher layoffs.

That follows Tuesday night’s vote by the Charlotte Mecklenburg school board to approve the recommended budget for the 2010-11 school year.

“We made some tough decisions, but the reductions we made are necessary – with the exception of the teacher cuts, and I’m not done looking for places to save money (to keep teachers),” said Rhonda Lennon, who holds the District 1 seat on the school board, representing north Mecklenburg County, including Davidson. Read the full story

Professor John Yukich talks to Community School of Davidson science club members during their visit to Davidson College laser lab Monday, May 10. (Bill Giduz photo)

Fifteen students from the Community School of Davidson science club took a field trip Monday, May 10, to the Davidson College laser lab. Physics faculty members Wolfgang Christian and John Yukich demonstrated three lasers and fielded questions from the inquisitive crowd of middle schoolers.

The visit was made in conjunction with the club’s study unit on lasers, which was provided by the American Physical Society to commemorate the laser’s 50th anniversary.