CMS Schools Report Middle School Suspensions Have Risen

With the closing this year of three troubled middle schools, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools has reported that sending those students to other schools with younger students has caused a sharp rise in discipline problems. These issues are reaching into the lower grades due to these transitions and the poor planning that was involved beforehand.

One CMS parent, Tamisha Payne stated, “Her fourth-grader is in a class with 51 students and two teachers, awaiting mobile classrooms that will allow splitting the group. It’s like a domino effect: One kid starts misbehaving, then another kid starts misbehaving. There’s a point when the parents say, ‘Enough. This is not a good environment. It’s insane.’ ”  In addition, rivals between schools has been a problem when students from closed schools are placed along with rival students.

Peter Gorman stated, “That CMS’ new schools would help students by breaking up large clusters of adolescents and putting them into smaller, more controlled settings with strong principals and teachers. The plan will eventually create more stability, allowing children to stay in one school from age 4 until they move up to high school.”  Although many question if all of the shuffling has had a detrimental adverse affect. You can read the whole story here at CharlotteObserver.com.

The comparisons between 2010 and 2011 do show quite a difference: