CMS making good progress

What a difference a year makes! This time last year, I was reflecting on the educational value of penguins after correcting my error of judgment about a child's book on the arctic dwellers. All of us at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools were putting in place the first parts of our Strategic Plan 2010: Educating Students to Compete Locally, Nationally and Internationally. And we were preparing for a bond issue in 2007.

Twelve months later, we have made considerable progress. The voters approved our bond -- thank you, Mecklenburg County voters! -- and we're preparing to put that money to work to renovate old schools and build new ones. Many of the goals in the Strategic Plan 2010 have become a reality -- we've decentralized, we've raised academic achievement in some ways, we're strengthening our ties to the community. And penguins have been eclipsed by athletic-eligibility issues.

'07's `ouch' point: Eligibility

Every year has its own "ouch" point, and I'd say eligibility was it for 2007. We've made some changes to address the challenges we face there, and we'll continue to work on more changes and reforms.Looking back over the year, however, I think 2007 has been marked by more progress than problems for CMS. This community remains strongly interested in its school district, and that interest is thriving and, in some cases, maturing into involvement in our schools. That involvement is good for our kids and good for this community as a whole.

It's been almost a year since we held our Faith Summit, inviting members of the faith community to partner with us to help educate our kids. Since then, the number of our partners from the faith community has doubled from 100 to more than 200, and it's still growing.

We have brought other partners on board. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping us improve our Achievement Zone schools, and we'll continue that work this year. The C.D. Spangler Foundation has given us a gift of 70 more Teach for America teachers through a $4 million donation, and that will put 150 or so of these motivated, energetic young teachers into some of our neediest schools. We also received a generous gift from a surprising source: Singer Josh Groban donated $150,000 to CMS for music education.

Academic achievement up

Academic achievement at CMS has improved. We're not where we want to be -- we've set a goal of educating every child well, and we have much work to do yet. But our scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress this year show us at or near the top of American cities in reading and math for fourth- and eighth-graders. That's encouraging, and we'll continue to build on that foundation to reach every child.

We've successfully decentralized, reshaping CMS into six area learning communities and an Achievement Zone. The start of school, and the open houses held in November at each learning community and the Achievement Zone, indicate that our parents and students like the new structure and the improved service it provides.

On our business side, we have also had a very good year. Our budget has been approved, and last year's budget had a successful audit. We managed to launch this year's initiatives using only redirected funds, rather than asking for new funding -- and I'm proud of our fiscal commitment on that. Between Certificates of Participation, the proposed public/private partnership and the bond issue, this year has brought CMS about $775 million in money to repair old schools and build new ones. This will be good for our kids. Overcrowding continues to be a challenge for us -- we have 25,000 kids in portables this year -- and this money will help us relieve some of that overcrowding.

Support appreciated

All of this has given us a good start on 2008, and the 2008-2009 school year. We have plenty of challenges ahead -- we will continue to wrestle with issues of poverty, school safety and budget constraints, among other things. But I am proud of the work CMS has done this year, and of the progress being made across the district.

Last year, I asked the community to come together to do what is good for kids. That has happened on many fronts and I am grateful for it. Issues and challenges remain, but there appears to be widespread support of and interest in this community for our schools.

In 2008, all of us at CMS will continue to work toward educating every child well. We look forward to building new partnerships and strengthening the ones we have, and we benefit enormously from this community's support of its schools. Most important, our children benefit from it -- and that's good for all of us.