Steele Creek student assignment process underway

Student assignment changes in Steele Creek come with an opportunity for input on what should decide them.

Thelma Byers-Bailey, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools board representative for Dist. 2, hosts a public input meeting May 18 to discuss upcoming assignment changes. The 6:15 p.m. meeting at Olympic High School, 4301 Sandy Porter Road, will have information on the elementary and middle school feeder system heading into Olympic.

Assignment changes won’t impact the school year beginning this fall.

“Right now we’re just doing community input,” Byers-Bailey said. “If everything stays on schedule these changes will be in place for 2017-18.”

The school board hired a consultant to help with an assignment plan, which comes up for review every six years. New schools and student demographics are part of determining which students attend what local schools. A new plan is expected by October.

As of May 5, Byers-Bailey was through four of the six town hall meetings. Olympic is her last one. Public input has been varied, she said.

Keeping diversity within the schools is an area of concern.

“The concern is basically how we’re going to deal with the homeschool assignment,” Byers-Bailey said. “There’s also concern on what’s been a sort of re-segregation of schools and what affect diversity has on our student assignment.”

While any public input is welcome, public thoughts on student demographics in local schools are especially helpful.

“I’m most interested in whether diversity in our student population is something that’s an area of concern and interest to the community,” Byers-Bailey said.

The impact of new schools changing attendance lines won’t be as big a part of the coming discussion, but it could be later.

“That depends on the bond,” Byers-Bailey said.

The school board voted April 26 to request a bond vote in November. The board is looking for $805 million. That amount would fund 29 projects, including new schools, renovations and replacements.

The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners still would have to approve the request before it goes to a ballot.

“As our school district continues to grow, so do our needs,” CMS Superintendent Ann Clark said in a statement. “These projects will help relieve overcrowding, reduce the number of mobile classrooms and bring much-needed renovation and improvement to some of our older schools.”

Steele Creek schools are in Dist. 2, which is much larger than the area nearest Lake Wylie. The district includes 50 schools and 12 high schools, counting the five at Olympic. Of the 29 projects proposed, 10 are in Dist. 2. The district accounts for almost $275 million in improvements, of 34 percent of the total for all six districts.

The proposed bond would add a $17 million administration facility, 10 new schools, four replacement schools and 14 renovations and additions district-wide. The result would be 1,100 new or updated classrooms serving 20,000 students. The district would lose 300 mobile classrooms.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Steele Creek student assignment process underway."