How did CMS miss enrollment numbers by 44 percent? Why did CMS expect 5200 new students and only get 2900?
Well, one way is by failing to account for the impact of charter schools — a failure that may well be rooted in the philosophical opposition to charters. You see, the public school establishment as a whole refuses to accept that charters benefit public systems as a whole both by providing competition and by taking on students who would otherwise strain the larger system.
The evidence:
Alexander Middle in Huntersville, for example, had more than 110 fewer students than expected. Principal Joanna Smith said that’s partly because Lake Norman Charter School opened a new building nearby and added an eighth grade.
So the principal knew what has happening on the ground and the Ed Center did not? Do tell.
Meanwhile, trouble at both Olympic and Garinger. The former, a student had a loaded gun, the latter a student assaulted the principal.
Both should be expelled. Let’s see if that happens.
