Happy New Year!  I wanted to thank everyone again for your support of the petition and advocacy to keep Sharon/Carmel zoned kids at Myers Park.  The next school board meeting is Tuesday night at 6 pm.  Please come if you are able.  I know Tuesday nights are filled with homework, practices, and making dinner, but please make an effort to be there.  We need to show support for our cause.  A few of us will be speaking - if interested please sign up!

What else can you do to help?

1. Share the petition - get anyone you can to sign and share.  There are many that are just becoming aware of the potential changes.
2. Join our Facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3346211908964254
3. Email the School Board and Planning Committee- copy and paste the email addresses below. 

elysec.dashew@cms.k12.nc.us, thelmab.bailey@cms.k12.nc.us, jennifer1.delajara@cms.k12.nc.us, l1.sanders-shipp@cms.k12.nc.us, lisac.cline@cms.k12.nc.us, summerl.nunn@cms.k12.nc.us, stephaniem.sneed@cms.k12.nc.us, melissam.easley@cms.k12.nc.us, gregoryd.rankin@cms.k12.nc.us, claire1.schuch@cms.k12.nc.us, brian1.schultz@cms.k12.nc.us, dennisk.lacaria@cms.k12.nc.us

Here is a quick example (feel free to use parts and make it your own):

Thank you all for your service. I'm writing to express support to keep the Sharon/Carmel students zoned for Myers Park. The current feeder aligns best with the School Board's Guiding Principles, and I kindly ask that you prioritize and support the principles the Board has been elected to follow.

1. Distance to home - Myers Park is the closest school for the majority of students that fall in the Sharon/Carmel zone.
2. Elementary school feeders for High School - Guiding Principles only indicate Elementary Schools are the feeder for high schools, NOT Middle Schools. Elementary schools are the smallest, most localized zones and keeping communities together for high school is a priority.
3. SES - little to no change in SES occurs when moving Sharon/Carmel students to South Meck
4. Utilization - Enrollment at Sharon Elementary is down 25% over the past 4 years. This trend is consistent with other Myers Park elementary school feeders. Moving our small group of students from Myers Park to South Meck still leaves South Meck as an over capacity school at 108% with no benefit to our students and huge disruption to our families. Myers Park enrollment is already on the decline and we will meet desired capacity levels naturally, falling below 100% without unnecessary disruption.

Please let the voices of those most impacted be granted some additional weight in your decision process. If the evidence was overwhelmingly supportive of the need to move our students to South Meck for the benefit of the community, you'd find our small group of families to be more supportive. The fact is, evidence does not suggest this change is beneficial, or even necessary at all. Please vote to keep Sharon/Carmel students in their current zone of Myers Park.

Thanks everyone,

Laura Grant (lagmom@gmail.com)