CHARLOTTE — The first week of school is in the books for over 140,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg students, and district leaders gave an update Friday morning on how different aspects went, including transportation, filling teacher vacancies, and school safety.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools implemented a new safety protocol called the Standard Response Protocol, or SRP. It gives five actions for schools to take for potential emergencies.
“You actually have clear directions on what you need to do,” Chief Operations Officer for CMS, Tim Ivey, said. “It helps us with response time.”
The first is hold which says students and staff should stay in their classrooms. The second is secure which means students are brought inside and doors are locked. The third is lockdown, then evacuate, then shelter.
Leaders revealed the protocol was already used three times in the first week in response to off-campus incidents.
“It would be some community event that’s happening, where the local law enforcement notifies us that something is happening the area,” Ivey said. “In the past, we would have said that we were in a secure lockdown, so parents may have said ‘Oh my gosh were in lockdown’, now we’re in a secure hold.”
In each school, there is a poster hanging in the hallways breaking down what each person inside should be doing. It shows the five different actions and also includes instructions for both students and adults.
CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill said students entered classrooms that were “pristine, warm and inviting.”
On top of that, CMS leaders said more school buses are arriving on time.
On Monday, fewer than 80% of buses rolled in by the morning bell. They said that number was up to 93% by Thursday.
In the afternoon, the on-time arrival percentages improved from 72% to 88%.
Leaders also say there are 67 fewer teacher vacancies this year than there were last year and over 300 fewer vacancies than there were in 2023.
Channel 9’s 29th annual School Tools Drive is still underway in partnership with Classroom Central.
You can help by dropping off new school supplies at local Ashley stores, ER services, and Charlotte fire stations.
For a full list of drop-off locations, visit the 9 School Tools webpage.
VIDEO: CMS unveils new safety protocol ahead of first day of school
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