Charlotte Central School

Bully haven with oblivious administration, useless guidance counselors, and teachers in denial. A rampant bullying problem exists at CCS, one the administration does not properly address. Ultimately, as many families before us, we moved out of the district due to it. If your child is cookie cutter normal, he or she may be fine at CCS. If your child is different, unique, or refuses to conform (i.e., won't follow fashion dictated by 13 year old mean girls or play sports with rowdy boys or may be LGBT) he or she will be harassed, targeted, and bullied until life is hell. For instance, one of my daughters refused to conform in seventh grade - she didn't want to wear pink, worship Bieber, carry lip gloss, and date anyone (dating frequently begins at this school as early as 5th grade). As a result, she was told on a daily basis that she was a freak, ugly, fat, stupid, and should harm or kill herself. When reporting such behavior to the then employed guidance counselor Mrs. B., my daughter found no support. Instead, she was asked if she was lying because "these kids are so nice' or had done anything to warrant such treatment. The final straw was a petition shoved into her locker, signed by EVERY child in the 2011-12 seventh grade requesting that my daughter kill herself. Given the wealth of the community and the need of the school for community fundraising and additional financial support, it's clear, although not in any way defensible, why they don't tackle the issue of bad behavior with the parents of these kids. It goes without saying that approaching mommy and daddy directly about their budding sociopath accomplishes nothing. The kids learned this entitled toxic behavior at home after all.

Recommed with caution as the school system in the District is hit or miss at the elem and middle levels. High School picks up in Grade Ten. Starts off Grade Nine with bonding and assembling kids from four schools. The District in General is not in sync with systems and programs from classroom to classroom, from grade to grade and from school to school. The teachers are so buried in rubrics that they miss the big picture of what these kids are all about. Not many Math or Writing experts in the school and so students are taught by generalist teachers some good and some not. Not enough time to do quality writing with proper feedback during school days. Band program is excellent, sports are available, but students are sometimes not coached by the best role models and are often foul themselves. Teachers do not inspire for basic academics beyond the classrooms. Yes, there are geography bees, mathcounts and spelling bees on occasion, but it is all organized sporadically and many of the teachers do not really know the ins and outs of these quality programs nor do they seem to give the students credit for doing this work. Parents who do Kumon are a threat and to date no teacher has even bothered to investigate what Kumon really is or why those who do it raise the Math scores at CCS. Charlotte Parents are accused of being demanding but they are really just trying to make sure that the school stops resting on parental support and that if teachers are hired to teach they be the right ones to do the job. Local School board tries hard, but shoots from the hip as they try to run the show and have no power really. Hevertheless they try hard. Work late hours for a lot of meetings. Our Superintendent is not a leader, but hires too many ineffective coordinators who are not all on the same page. She may be causing some of the confusion with such a large organizational structure. She seems to hope for consensus on every issue, whereas she needs to take a stance on important issues and delegate that an action plan happen. Items remain open for too long and it appears the District has been looking for the right Math program and is sampling three for over a year. At CCS only one third of the students in this grade are ready for Algebra One. Writing standards are weak and even though students write it is not corrected often. District issue because the testing happens after Grades 5,8 and 11 with a lot of time in between. All in all though it is a safe, pleasant environ that is very low key. Kids are having fun for the most part. If highly educated parents are committed to reading, writing and doing Math then kids will be fine.