Charlotte, NC.- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) will welcome back more than 140,000 students and 17,000 staff members on Monday, August 26.
On Tuesday, August 20, CMS announced at a press conference that 663 new teachers will join the district this year, bringing the total number of employees to just over 17,600. Even with 97% of teacher positions filled, the district still has 293 educator vacancies.
Dr. Crystal Hill, CMS Superintendent.
(Photo credit: WCCB)
SHORTAGE
“We have come to an understanding; there will be a teacher shortage. This is not going to go away. It will probably get worse before it gets better. So, we thought and planned well in advance. What we told our team is that by August 1, every school had to have a plan for if they couldn’t hire more teachers.“said Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill.
As of August 1, all schools were required to have an instructional plan if they were not filling all teaching vacancies.
CMS leadership says there will never be a situation where there is no teacher supervising a classroom. Instead, schools can combine two classrooms under one lead teacher for a portion of the day when there is a vacancy at a school or use live virtual options.
NEW SCHOOLS
In the new 2024-25 school year, CMS said three new schools will open: Knights View Elementary School, Burns Elementary School and Valentines Ridge High School.
However, these schools are also expected to increase traffic in different parts of the city.
School district administrators are asking drivers to be patient in the morning and asking parents to get their students to bus stops ten minutes early.
“When you encounter 141,000 people and over 840 buses on the road in a single day, it will take the Charlotte Mecklenburg community a considerable amount of time to get used to all this new traffic.“said Chief Operating Officer Tim Ivey.
SECURITY
CMS also reminded parents that middle and high school students are advised not to bring three-ring binders or metal backpacks to school because they must go through security and will be detected by sensors.
“We saw last year that sometimes with our scanners, we were seeing false positives, which was slowing down the process for students,” Hill said.
CMS made the decision last year and “the vast majority” of parents learned about the change in supplies from school principals before the end of the 2023-24 school year. “As a parent with children, I’m also excited that kids won’t have those heavy things in their backpacks weighing them down,” Hill said. “So this will increase safety, but also protect the physical structure of our students.”
Classes begin at CMS and most other districts in North Carolina on Monday, August 26.
