MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Parents in south Charlotte are continuing to protest upcoming boundary changes that would impact thousands of students and their families.
The boundary change proposals are in response to overcrowding in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district due to a significant increase in population in the southern portion of Mecklenburg County.
Two relief schools, a middle school and a high school, are being built for the growth but boundary and feeder pattern changes are needed to accommodate the new schools.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Parents voice concerns over CMS relief school plans
"No single school should have the burden of opening both the relief middle and the relief high school, one or the other," Maggie Donofrio, a Polo Ridge Elementary School parent, said.
In the superintendent's recommendation of south boundary changes, Polo Ridge Elementary school children could go to up to three new schools in the next few years.
"They've added in a feeder split at the elementary level, which means they don't all move from fifth grade on to middle school," Donofrio said.
In addition to a change in feeder patterns on the elementary school level, some kids at Polo Ridge would also go to the new relief middle school.
"Then there is another feeder split at the middle school level where they split again, and then they will be going to the new relief high school," Donofrio said.
Shannon Denholm has several kids impacted by the proposed changes. Her current Polo Ridge Elementary schooler would go to Jay M. Robinson for his first year of middle school.
"Then he'd do two years at the relief middle school and then he would go to the relief high school right after that," Denholm said. "So it's seven years in a row of just brand new schools."
Polo Ridge families are asking the district to spread the responsibility of two new schools across the county.
"We understand that changes will be made," Jade Hernandez, a Polo Ridge Elementary School parent said. "It just feels like with this most recent recommendation, the changes have been unfairly loaded on the Polo Ridge Elementary community."
The families are asking for the previously proposed changes that did not zone Polo Ridge for two new relief schools being taken into consideration.
Denholm said parents who contribute to opening two new relief schools will unfairly have too heavy of a burden.
"It doesn't stop right when the doors open and the construction trucks are gone," Denholm said. "You need parental involvement all the time."
The boundary changes are a complex issue with no easy solution.
CMS has worked to address the concern of parents, but balancing what parents would like for their students with the realities and constraints the district is under has proved challenging.
The final version of the plan does include some concessions and positive changes for other families.
For example, rising seniors will automatically finish at their current school for their final year, and rising juniors will have the option to stay at their current school or be assigned to the relief high school. Although there is no sibling guarantee in place, students may apply for a transfer without transportation.
There are also special accommodations for students in special programs. This new version also better balanced the number of low-income students in schools.
However, there are still calls from multiple neighborhoods to modify the plan.
About 50 students and parents from Alexander Graham Middle School and Myers Park High School held a protest between the schools Tuesday afternoon.
They made a human chain to demonstrate how close each school is to each other.
Under the current plan, students who currently attend Alexander Graham Middle School would be split between Myers Park High School and South Mecklenburg High School. This would mean that some students would have to travel much farther to get to school.
"We should think about busing and buses and neighborhoods in a way that makes sense," Ashli Stokes, who has a daughter impacted by the changes, said.
With the new plan, students who stay at Myers Park could travel up to 6 miles from their houses. Those going to South Meck would travel about 8.5 miles.
When accounting for all four high schools impacted by these new changes, the average home-to-school distance is lower somewhere between 2 and 3.5 miles.
The CMS school board is scheduled to vote on the boundary changes next week on June 6. Parents are hoping that the board will listen to their concerns and modify the plan.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.