"Speak Out" is an expression of opinion from the Editorial Board of WBTV, and is presented by General Manager, Nick Simonette.
It's a sad situation...
Many kids in our communities are on the verge of failure.
Listen to these facts:
Three out of ten Charlotte Mecklenburg students drop out each year.
The achievement gap between black and white students is in double digits.
C-M-S continues its struggle to make all students successful.
But here's some possible good news:
The philanthropic community wants to help.
To prove they are serious, they're actually putting their money where their mouth is.
A group of prominent citizens wants to find a way to lower the drop-out rate and improve the achievement gap.
Once they find it - they will pay for it to be implemented in C-M-S.
We applaud their efforts.
We hope this strategy gets the job done.
Imagine if this works!
It will give at-risk students a shot at success.
They could join the workforce, not the prison population.
And IF it works, it'd be a step towards saying public education works because the community helped make it happen.
With that said, this by no means is a sign parents are off the hook.
It also takes moms and dads to ensure success for their own kids.
The group is scheduled to come up with a plan for CMS at the end of this year.
And we hope what they recommend will help change a generation.
Tell us what YOU think. SpeakOut@wbtv.com.
