Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders are considering a magnet program overhaul, including converting EE Waddell into a full comprehensive high school.
CMS leaders and board members discussed the proposal at a board retreat, which began Thursday and concluded Saturday. The plan would be part of a larger district effort to streamline program choice and consolidate resources, Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight told board members.
EE Waddell, located on Nations Ford Road in southwest Charlotte, currently houses just a virtual program and the district’s PACE program for students who are learning English. A number of previous plans for the school have failed to stick: the district floated moving the PACE program to Garinger High School in east Charlotte due to low enrollment and transportation concerns, but a hasty proposed rollout met opposition from the community in 2024. A proposed aviation magnet program at the school also failed to get off the ground.
Making EE Waddell into a full high school could also mean redrawing attendance boundaries for other high schools in the area. Balknight’s retreat presentation noted that converting EE Waddell into a full high school would mean “reducing enrollment at neighboring high schools.” Potential new boundaries have not been determined.
Other high schools in that area of Charlotte include Olympic, Myers Park, South Mecklenburg, Harding, Palisades and Ballantyne Ridge, which opened in 2024 to reduce overcrowding at surrounding schools.
If the district were to adopt the plan, CMS currently has 16 magnet themes and would consolidate down to six: visual and performing arts, world languages, STEM, Montessori, early college and a hybrid of the current International Baccalaureate and learning immersion/talent development themes.
The goal would be to create consistent magnet programs across the district’s campuses, so families would focus more on what program they want for their child, rather than the particular school.
Every year, the district opens up an attendance lottery for families trying to get their kids into particular schools other than the ones they’re zoned to, in order to attend specialized magnet programs. Parents rank schools in order of preference, and the district notifies them which one they’ve been assigned to. That can result in waitlists at certain schools.
“Program choice, so that the program is consistent no matter what transportation zone it is in,” Balknight said. “Schools have a different culture and climate, but the core experience of a STEM program, or a Montessori program, is the same.”
The proposal would also involve creating a minimum of six career and technical education programs at each of the district’s high schools.
The proposals are still preliminary: no changes would go into effect until the 2027-28 school year, if approved. The district plans to go to the public for feedback on the proposals and bring finalized versions to the board for a vote in May.
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Rebecca Noel
The Charlotte Observer
Rebecca Noel reports on education for The Charlotte Observer. She’s a native of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Rice University. She later received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys reading, running and frequenting coffee shops around Charlotte.
