Designing a new pupil assignments plan to comply with U.S. District Judge Robert Potter's no-busing order is going to
require drastic changes.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board began giving directions to Supt. Eric Smith Tuesday night and will say next
Tuesday what to do about magnet schools.
The problem is finding seats for some 7,000 inner city black students who have been bused in the pre-Potter integration plan.
"We spent the last 30 years building our buildings around a pupil assignment pattern driven by satellite zones and, in the last 10 years, magnets schools," Smith said. "Buildings are not in
the right place for the kind of direction the judge has given us."
"We have a number of decisions to make," Smith said. "We
must decide what value the magnet schools are. Are we going to have to move and relocate them."
"In addition to that, we built the bond program around the same structure as the satellite
zones. We need to take a hard look at how those funds will be spent and are they to be spent in places where we don't need buildings. We are looking at if we should in fact reallocate
those dollars to building new schools in the center city where we know we are going to be short of seats."
"The other major issue, which can't get lost is the entire court case was about equity and all
kids getting a fair shot. As we look at the immediate need of trying to bring adequate seating capacity to all parts of the county, we.have to look at the adequacy of those seats. We need
to look at upgrading current facilities."
Smith is asking the school board to tell him what it wants.
But its clear no one knows exactly what issues will take priority or what impact the changes will have.
One idea is to move mobile classrooms used to add seats at suburban schools back to the inner city. But doing so means more suburban youngsters will not be able to go to schools
closest to their homes, as neighborhood schools advocates like those who brought the lawsuit want.
"Folks want stability," said school board chair Arthur Griffin. "Folks are very concerned about
equity and about not having a large number of poor children in one school, without extra resources."
Consistency is also important, Griffin said."In the past, trailers were put at white schools, but black kids were bused out of the inner city," he said.
Griffin said Devonshire Elementary in east Charlotte is an example. Students who would normally attend Devonshire are bused to outlying schools like Clear Creek, while McKee Road Elementary had 24 trailers.
"If you talk about being consistent with the distribution of trailers, Devonshire would have 15 trailers," Griffin said.
He said the $1.3 billion estimate for current facilities in the inner city would bring about equity, but no one knows how much it will cost to build 7,000 seats in the center city.
"That's for facilities only," Griffin said. "That not counting operating funds, such as for reduced class size...to 15 or 18 (for poor children). We want to have a social worker at elementary
schools and incentives for teachers to work in inner city schools with high concentrations of poor children."
"Facilities are part of the workplace issue (for teachers)," Griffin said. "Classroom teachers would like to have access to a classroom that allows them space to do learning centers,
where there is technology in it and its not leaking and the heating and air conditioners provide a level of comfort and are not breaking every week. Teachers want telephones in the
classroom. In the new schools, we put telephones in automatically."
"We can design a system that is equitable, but the issue is resourcing that plan and
implementing that plan...finding the dollars to pay for it and the guts of public will to pay for it and then implement it...
Board member Wilhelmenia Rembert, who like Griffin is seeking re-election in November,
said she still needs some clarification of what Potter's order requires.
"I'm still a little bit reluctant to offer up very much until I get more clarification from our
attorneys about how restrictive the judge's ruling truly is," Rembert said. "I have heard from non-attorneys if board tries to use surrogate (plans) in an attempt to maintain a desegregated
system, that will be challenged in court."
"But I have some questions about the extraordinary limits the judge has placed on the school
board," Rembert said. "I think matters of choice are important, but everyone has to have comparable choice. Choices should afford each child in every school a quality education. A
quality education for me includes educating students in diverse environments. It is not acceptable to have a segregated system, by race or economic level...not all black, all white or
all poor. That's not good for Charlotte.
"It's not good for the economic, social or spiritual fabric of our community."
