Students, parents and school personnel attend Hough High's grand opening. See a gallery below.

By KAREN CIMINO WILSON
DavidsonNews.net

Hundreds of future William A. Hough High School students, their parents and siblings crowded in front of the new $57.6 million high school Saturday, excited to tour the modern campus for the first time.

Students marched to the celebration behind the newly formed Hough High Marching Husky Band, from nearby Bailey Middle School, where many incoming freshmen attended last year. The day included a festival in the school’s new football stadium. Hough’s Parent Teacher Student Association organized and paid for the event through donations and corporate sponsorship. Read the full story

Hough High School.

The grand opening celebration of the new $57.6 million William A. Hough High School will kick off Saturday morning with a ceremonial walk from Bailey Middle School to the new Hough campus.

The majority of Bailey’s graduating eighth graders are headed to Hough this fall, according to school officials. Already, Bailey’s staff began building Hough spirit with school apparel sales, Bailey Middle Principal Jennifer Dean said. Hough High Principal Teresa Cockerham also spoke at Bailey’s graduation ceremony in June.
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The Hough High school rock is, at least for now, painted in the official colors of the Huskies: silver and black.

In the midst of all the bleak budget news facing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is one bright spot: William A. Hough High is on track to open Aug. 25 in Cornelius.

Everything about the school is a first, and Tuesday night was no exception: It marked the school’s first-ever ninth grade curriculum night.

“We are going to make history opening a new school,” counselor Sue Colbert told the audience. Read the full story

The new William A. Hough High School is getting ready for its debut school year by holding several organizational meetings.  See below for details about: a PTSA organizational meeting set for Monday, curriculum night Tuesday, symphonic band auditions May 1, marching band drum major auditions May 7, and an Athletic Boosters meeting set for May 11.

The new public high school is still under construction on Bailey Road in Cornelius.  Organizational meetings will be held at Bailey Middle School.

Keep up-to-date with Hough High by checking its new school website. Read the full story

With extra county funding unlikely, board will ask state legislators to OK furloughs to save teachers’ jobs.

By ANN DOSS HELMS
The Charlotte Observer

After rejecting pay cuts and school closings, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board Tuesday pinned its 2010-11 budget-cutting hopes on the state legislature, hoping to get permission to furlough employees and tinker with the school calendar.

The drastic measures discussed at the budget meeting would be on top of – or possibly instead of – the 600 teacher layoffs the board authorized last week. Read the full story

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.
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Rhonda Lennon.

- HOUGH HIGH STILL ON TRACK TO OPEN ON SCHEDULE -

Rhonda Lennon, the representative for District 1 on the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board, will host a meeting with constituents Monday, March 29, starting at 7 p.m. in the Cornelius Town Hall.

The meeting will feature a brief presentation about CMS budget proposals, which may include teacher layoffs and other cuts to handle an expected budget shortfall.

Mayors from Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville have been invited to the meeting.

Ms. Lennon told DavidsonNews.net that the meeting is intended to be a way “to see what is on people’s minds and keep communication open.” Read the full story

Robert Carrington (at center), currently at Vance High, talked with parents and students at Bailey Middle about his new role as band director for the new William A. Hough High School.

Robert Carrington of Vance High was a judge Tuesday at Bailey Middle’s band concert.  Parents, however, were more interested in him as the newly-named band director for William A. Hough High School.  He is one of many teachers who have been hired to staff the new school.  We have a report on that, plus boundary concerns for North Meck related to this fall’s opening of Hough High.

In other matters, we have reports on Pine Lake Prep‘s work to collect donations for victims of Haiti’s earthquake, Davidson Day‘s blood drive Thursday, a Miss Clemson contestant with Davidson ties, and several calendar items. Read the full story