OVERCROWDED SCHOOLS

IN CHARLOTTE
MECKLENBURG SCHOOL
DISTRICT
Megan Crotty
Professor Arnold
PROBLEM:
 Elementary, middle, and high school
classrooms have 40 students on average in each
classroom.
 Schools are over capacitated by 300 students
on average
 Students losing valuable time with teachers
and quality of education depletes
“In overcrowded situations, the
quality of education suffers, and
in turn, everyone suffers in our
society” (Doswell).
REASON WHY PROBLEM EXISTS:
 Budget cuts forced
teachers to be laid off
causing the student to
teacher ratio to rise.
 Over population in the
urban Mecklenburg area
due to transfer
students.
 Schools’ physical
structures can not
accommodate the rapid
growth of students.
CONSEQUENCES OF
OVERCROWDING:
 Low course grades
 Misbehavior by students due
to lack of teacher
supervision.
 Teachers exhausted from
amount of students and work
overload.
 Less curriculum covered
because teachers must go at
a slower pace to
accommodate all students.
 “Mobile Classrooms” are
prevalent.
“Because of the national, state
and community demands
for excellence in education,
students need the opportunity
to meet
those demands” (Doswell)
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
 Build More Schools within
the Mecklenburg School
District.
 Redistricting school
districts
 Provide teacher assistants
within the classrooms to
relieve teachers.
 Cut budgets elsewhere to
hire more teachers.
 Transfer students to less-
populated school districts.
 “As we downsize classes, bring in
more teachers, and
lower the teacher to classroom ratio,
our students will begin to rise
to the occasion” (Doswell).
WORKS CITED
 Doswell, Toni. “Slipping through the cracks:The
problem of overcrowding in schools.” Helium.
Helium. Web. 5 Dec.2010.
 Gu,Victoria."FUSD proposes solutions to
overcrowding." The Smoke Signal. The Smoke
Signal, 23 Oct. 2007. Web. 5 Dec. 2010.
 Russell, Dedrick. " CMS sends relief to overcrowded
schools." WorldNow and WBTV. WorldNow and
WBTV., 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2010.
 Russell, Dedrick. " Inside look at CMS overcrowded
schools." WorldNow and WBTV. WorldNow and
WBTV., 05 Oct. 2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2010.