Interim Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent talks school reassignments

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Between searching for a new, permanent superintendent to working on a bond issue and redrawing boundary lines, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders have a lot on their plates.

Interim superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill touched on a lot of those big subjects during a conversation with WBTV, including the upcoming school reassignments in south Charlotte.

The transitioning of students from three CMS high schools to South Charlotte Relief High School is an effort to relieve overcrowding.

The new high school, which will hold 100 classrooms, doesn’t have a permanent name yet, so for now, it’s referred to as South Charlotte Relief High School.

Students from Ardrey Kell, Myers Park and South Mecklenburg high schools will be reassigned from their current school to the new relief high school.

According to a study conducted by CMS, students moved to the new high school would have no more than a 17-minute commute to campus. It would hold a maximum of 2,500 students.

The project is expected cost nearly $159 million, with that money coming from the bond voters approved in 2017.

Hill says she understands students do not want to be reassigned, but she believes it’s the best decision and she wants those students to have input.

“We do some transitioning. Getting students that are going to be going to that new school an opportunity to have input about the new identity of that school,” Hill said. “So, then it’s not, ‘I’m leaving my school to go to this foreign place, but actually now that the decision has been made that this is where I will go, what stake do I have in building this new identity so that I’m a part of that process instead of something being done to me as a student and as a family?’ To actually be a part of that process is something new and something exciting.”>

This new school is set to open in the fall of 2024.

WBTV has more on this conversation with Hill in the coming days, including whether she plans to run for permanent superintendent and the school bonds that will be on the November ballot.

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