CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — One day after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board voted in a 7-2 favor of the relief proposal for south Mecklenburg campuses, students impacted by the decision have begun to prepare for the change.   

Rising freshmen have been given the option to choose to attend the high school in their current feeder pattern and then transition to the one impacted by the change, or begin in the fall at their new feeder pattern school. 

In a letter to parents and students Wednesday, school leaders announced an open house for incoming freshmen. It will be held from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, June 13, at the South Mecklenburg High School auditorium. 

“At open house, we will review the 2023-2024 9th grade registration cards and provide tours of the school.    

“Our goal is to have a counselor call each family after our open house to ensure each schedule is completed correctly and answer any other questions…”   

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders

There has been an outpouring of support for the draft that was voted in by school leaders on Tuesday.   

During the public hearing, one parent said, “Draft 3 does the best job at balancing socio-economic status across the south Charlotte high schools,” while another said, “It achieves what I thought was impossible, an equitable SES across all of the schools.”   

However, there is still a massive number of parents who feel ignored by district leaders.   

Jennifer Ricketts, a Myers Park parent, said she has lost trust in district leaders.   

Her son is one of 118 Alexander Graham Middle School students who will be fed into South Mecklenburg High, instead of Myers Park High, which is adjacent to Alexander Graham. 

She said her sixth-grade son Ben feels defeated by the vote. 

“They’re stuck in the middle,” Ricketts said. “That’s how my son feels. That’s what he said to me this morning. I’m just stuck in the middle.”   

She went on to say, “Everything that the board members said last night was a slap in the face. They looked that the numbers, and treated our children like numbers. They’re not numbers.”    

Polo Ridge Elementary parents also expressed concern over the changes.   

They not only took up most of the audience spaces in the auditorium for Tuesday’s vote, but they’ve also introduced their own versions of the draft after only being included in Draft 3.   

This would transition their students from Polo Ridge Elementary to the new middle school in Ballantyne, and then the new high school.   

For some parents, the concern has been over their students bearing the weight of attending both new schools. For others, their focus has been on the lack of data they’ve sought out.   

Jun Jiang, a Polo Ridge parent, said he was upset at the lack of time the district gave him and other parents to study the draft.   

He said it’s possible they would’ve supported it if they had been given an opportunity to receive more information from the district to better understand the proposal.   

He said the request and ideas “Fell on deaf ears. That’s what upsets us the most.”