Jul
23
2008
Charlotte Mecklenburg School District’s CMS-TV3
Posted by admin in Middle School Article, tags: Ethnic Distribution, High School Students, Math Teachers, Parents And Teachers, State Of North CarolinaThe Charlotte Mecklenburg School District
The Charlotte Mecklenburg School District is the main school district for the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The Charlotte Mecklenburg School District is composed of one hundred fifty schools: ninety one elementary schools, thirty two middle schools, seventeen high schools and ten alternative programs. There are one hundred twenty six thousand nine hundred three students enrolled in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District. The District has the top 10% students in the state of North Carolina and in the nation. The ethnic distribution of the school district is nearly 45% African-American.
Charlotte Mecklenburg School District’s CMS-TV3
In order to better serve the students and parents of the Charlotte Schools the school district has created its own television channel. CMS-TV3 is designed to support the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District by broadcasting professional looking programming that can inform, educate, and entertain the parents, students and teachers of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District. CMS-TV3 meets this goal by providing a variety of programming.
Current programs that address the needs of the students are the telecasts of the Board of Education meetings, Math Extra and Diversity Matters. The Board of Education Meetings are live broadcasts of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District’s twice monthly meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. This allows parents and teachers to know what is going on in the District. The meetings are rebroadcast on Wednesday nights. Math Extra is a live call in mathematics help show that allows students to get math help from math teachers throughout the school district. The show airs Monday through Thursday in the evening. The show aims to provide homework help to the middle school math students in the school district. Diversity Matters is a Continue Reading
Jul
21
2008
Gateway Drugs on the Rise in Charlotte Schools
Posted by admin in Middle School Article, tags: Abuse Prevention Programs, City Populations, Latino Population, Nonprofit Group, Substance Abuse Prevention ServicesCharlotte, North Carolina has a reputation as an affluent banking community where southern hospitality still exits, and a gentile lifestyle pervade. Of course, Charlotte Schools are also trying to educate one of the larger city populations in the country. So it depends on who you ask whether or not a recent report on increased drug use among school age children in Charlotte Schools is a shock or not.
The nonprofit group Substance Abuse Prevention Services released the disturbing results of a recent study that targeted children in grades 6-12 of the Charlotte Schools. The findings show that the use of gateway drugs (those that first introduce children to drug use) increased significantly from 2004 to 2006.
Alcohol use rose by 15%, marijuana use increased by 33%, and 27% of students interviewed admitted to smoking cigarettes. The key seems to be the increase in minority students at Charlotte Schools who are using the gateway drugs. Study director Karen Simon, and educators of Charlotte schools, agree that pressure to conform and fit into a new culture is part of what entices minorities to use these drugs. The greatest rise in drug use was seen in the Latino population of Charlotte Schools.
What can officials and teachers in Charlottes Schools do to turn this problem around? Many think the answer rests partially in parent education. One of the most disturbing results of the survey was the number of middle school students who reported getting alcohol from their parents. About half of middle schools students who use alcohol said that they got it from their parents. Unfortunately, there have already been efforts on the part of Charlotte Schools to educate parents in drug abuse prevention programs. Clearly it has not been enough.
The one bright point of the study was that binge drinking, the practice of having 5 or more drinks at a time, fell by 35 percent. Researchers did not give Continue Reading