Mailbag: Top 25 top feedback letters on CMS, Panda, sex, social media, Milestone and more

In response to: Dilworth, Cotswold elementary schools to be “paired” with low-income schools under CMS proposal

“Best summary I’ve seen so far. My knee jerk reaction is that many of these changes look good on paper (particularly the split school model – that’s going to cause major headaches for parents whose children end up at both schools simultaneously), they are either going to be hard to implement or in reality not make that much of a difference. I’m also a little disgusted that NO changes were made to the south CMS schools that have almost 100% homogeneous white upper middle class populations, but I suppose that they really couldn’t do much there. Maybe now we can shift our attention to a school by school review to help improve ALL schools.” – L

“We live in the Cotswold school district and made the decision two years ago that our children would never step foot in a CMS school. Their grand plan to mix the children from low income neighborhoods with the children from affluent neighborhoods is not going to bring those children out of poverty. No more then giving those same families money for food, a government subsidized place to live, public transportation or the myriad of other programs that are suppose to help these families rise above the means of poverty. We placed our daughter in a charter school in Uptown for Kindergarten. She was one of 4 white children in a class of 22 students. We had concerns that being surrounded by so many children that had previously been in Title 1 schools would harm her ability to learn and thrive. We quickly learned though that it has nothing to do with the environment at school and everything to do with the environment at home. Only 8 students in the class had two parents, including my daughter. Those 8 students were the only students who thrived in Kindergarten. They exceeded all reading goals, breezed through all math facts as well as socially adjusted to a long day of learning. These students had families at home who cared for them, fed them breakfast before school, packed lunches for them everyday and more importantly did homework with them to build stronger reading and math skills. It is not to say that children need two parents in order to thrive but they do need someone who cares enough everyday to take care of them and encourage them to keep trying. There is no application to become a parent and unfortunately many people become parents without the desire to do ALL that is required to help put their children in the best position possible day in and day out to succeed. Pairing Dilworth and Cotswold Elementary with low – income children is not going to erase the simple fact that until the PARENTS of these children take an interest in the life, livelihood and basic needs of THEIR children nothing will change for them. The children from Dilworth and Cotswold will continue to thrive because it has nothing to do with bank accounts and everything to do with the very people who choose to love their children unconditionally, support them in their schoolwork and take care of all their needs every single day. CMS’s job is not to construct socioeconomic experiments in the classrooms. Their job is to educate the children. Somehow they have lost sight of that simple task. Our daughter no longer attends the Uptown charter school as it lost its funding due to low enrollment for the next school year. We made the financial sacrifice to send our daughter to a private Christian school. We have another daughter who will be attending that same school in the fall. We could choose a bigger bank account and a bigger home and send our children to a public school but that would mean subjecting them to the chaos of CMS. The plan that CMS has unveiled this week only solidifies how right we were two years ago to choose to stay out of their schools!” – A

“We live in Dilworth. We have one kid at Dilworth Elementary and one heading there next year. Dilworth seems to be the petri dish for CMS’s various diversity experiments. A few years ago it was a magnet school. Then it became a neighborhood school. Now this. Our older daughter is lucky — she’s in 2nd grade now and won’t be affected by the new plan, at least in terms of elementary school. She’ll slide through Dilworth all the way through 5th grade. Here’s what our younger daughter gets to look forward to: Next year she starts Kindergarten at Dilworth. The following two years, when this “plan” would be in place, she’ll go to Sedgefield. Then she’ll get switched back to Dilworth for grades 3-5. You want to know what the odds are of this being a positive learning experience for her and hundreds of other kids? Pretty much close to zero. I’m (very) old for a father of kids this age — old enough to remember the first time CMS decided to shuffle things up for diversity. I was bused across town 47 years ago from my lily white neighborhood school to a predominately black school. It was a landmark decision that put Charlotte ahead of the rest of the country in trying to figure out how to bring more racial balance to schools. A lot of the families were upset and sent their kids to private school. My parents decided to keep us in public school and let us be bused across town. Maybe it would work. Maybe everyone would be lifted to a higher educational place, and the city itself would grow more integrated. Neither happened. The schools didn’t get better. Some might have improved, but most got worse because education took a backseat to dealing with this social experiment. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s neighborhoods are probably just as segregated now as they were then, maybe more so. It’s been nearly 50 years and CMS is still trying to figure out a way to achieve more diversity in schools, and kids are still being uprooted, and the schools are no better. When this plan falls short — and it will, because it always does — CMS will just come up with some other brilliant scheme and shove that down our throats. They’ve been doing it since Nixon was president. And it’s never really worked, outside of magnet schools. Charlotte can achieve more diversity by organically integrating neighborhoods, not by engineering some diversity scheme in schools, which only serves to hurt the students. Seriously, this is utter bulls**t.” – V

“I’m a Dilworth parent. Those that can afford it will go private, leaving the blended school with roughly 50% underperforming (below grade level) students. That’s going to impact teachers and classroom learning in a big way. I want to be supportive, but without TAs to spend time with below grade level students, this may result in 2 underperforming schools. I won’t even get into the logistics for families with multiple kids/different grades. Funny thing is I’m not hearing much from our school or PTA? Maybe it’s too early. Hoping some healthy discussions occur.” – L

“*reads comments* *sighs, takes a bite of lunch* Doesn’t “pairing” actually mean “integration” in this instance? Like circa 1954 Brown v. BOE? I digress… I’m sad to hear folks say the efforts haven’t helped CMS schools’ diversity; even sadder it hasn’t much changed the long-held non-minority attitude toward why diversifying school districts is important for these kids. *carries on with lunch* – C What a blow to Oakhurst! So much for up and coming. – J I like it. Seems to be an actual innovative solution in my opinion. K-2 school, and a 3-5 school. Time will tell, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Obviously it doesn’t make everything perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction. – S

Q: Has it worked anywhere else? A: No. Q: Did the schools already doing this nationally improve? A: No. Q: Did the quality of life at the schools improve? A: No. Seems like a good idea to me. Drive the quality of life and grades down yet keep paying higher real estate taxes.” – W

In response to: Is it just me, or are you also struggling to find a go-to Chinese restaurant in Charlotte?

“The last time I went to panda I was 15 and my mom had dropped me off at the mall to hang with friends.” – C

“On a serious note. Wan Fu is the truth. Go there. Whatever religious deity you believe in now will be replaced with Wan Fu. Stop ordering shit tier Chinese food from Panda Express and become enlightened. Wan Fu is the 8th wonder. I penciled in Wan Fu on my election ballot.” – R

“Baoding is amazing. It’s the best Chinese I’ve ever had, but I will say–for whatever reason-eating IN the restaurant as opposed to taking it home–it tastes better.” – S

In response to: Charlotte is too shy to talk about sex, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t doing it

“I am a late 40’s divorced mother of 2. I am in a long term relationship with a man. I love and adore him and he and I have sex every day. Send me the survey. My boyfriend and I will complete it and send it back, and some of your percentages will change.” – M

“I appreciate your effort in broaching the subject of sex in a Southern bible belt city such as CLT. However, not once did you mention lack of protection in terms of personal health. You only mentioned pregnancies. One of the biggest public health issues we are currently facing is sexually transmitted infections (STIs). I am a public health professional, so unfortunately I know way too much about who has these diseases and what their repercussions are. For example, if you contract chlamydia it can be asymptomatic (not showing symptoms). You could unknowingly pass this around to the rest of the city. When chlamydia goes undiagnosed, it leads to sterilization aka NO babies. I know you disclosed this was in no way a scientific survey, but if you are going to attempt to discuss a taboo topic, you’d might as well hit everything that goes along with it. Also, older couples are doing it more on Wednesdays because its hump day. Duh.” – C

In response: Charlotte is finally getting a Ted’s Montana Grill this week

“Finally? Like we were all itching for another chain burger/american restaurant?” – T

“I. Love. Ted’s. Missing it from Florida! Great restaurant!” – E

In response to: Are we ever going to stop filtering our lives for the sake of likes on social media?

“This spoke to me on a truly profound level. From one 40%-truther to another, thank you for openness and honesty.” – A

“This really hit home with me as I do deal with anxiety and depression and get a sense that I have to keep up with those around me with pictures, videos, and other posts. I cannot even imagine what one feels like if they adopt a fixation on Snapchat in checking second-by-second to see what is the next event in their friends’ glorious lives.” – K

“I see where you are coming from, but I don’t think it’s a problem. If people were constantly posting about the personal issues they were having I would stop using social media altogether. I don’t think it’s a matter of honesty – I wouldn’t walk into work or approach strangers on the street and share all the problems in my life, just like I don’t post them on social media. Social media is a quick way to share the fun moments in your life. Take it at face value, don’t read into it, and it’s fine.” – A

“The bigger questions is — Are we ever going to stop caring what others think of us and just be ourselves 100% of the time. Only then will we be the real person we are”. – N

“Damn Kylie, I gotta say I appreciate the honesty on this one. I only moved to Charlotte because my fiancé whom I had been with for 5 years broke up with me. I never had an ounce of social media, and now I’ve never felt more pressure to be on Tinder, Bumble, and make an Instagram. I must admit I’ve gone on hikes, gone to Ruth’s Chris, and a bunch of other bullshit just to tag it on Instagram. It’s pathetic, and it’s a shame we have to feel that way. You just became my favorite author at the Agenda.” – G

“Just wanted to say nice work on the very honest social media piece. I suspect that 100% of people who have social media accounts also feel this way. Although I understand there are some positives to facebook and the like, I deleted all social media accounts back in 2010 for one of the reasons you mentioned – comparing my life (which at the time was I had graduated from college, moved home, had no job, no idea what to do and trouble in paradise with my boyfriend) to the seemingly better lives of my Facebook friends. I deactivated Facebook as an experiment and ended up never going back. These days I do have Instagram, and even with that, I constantly go back and forth on whether I really want it or not. I honestly think I’d prefer Instagram if people couldn’t like or comment on photos- if they were just there to be shared.” – A

In response to: Bonsai expands its trendy sushi menu with more sushi burritos and new poke bowls

“Nice but I’m going to need my salmon cooked.” – K

In response to: Peek inside Catawba Brewing’s new Charlotte location, set to open in May

“THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING EVER!” – J

“Awesome! Love the bar stools!” – J

In response to: Cash Confessional — A week of spending in Charlotte on a $100,000 salary

“I have a friend, single, no kids that makes about $112k yr. She pays all her bills and that includes a mortgage and still has $$ for fun and international travel. It’s all about budgeting! She would laugh at the parents paying this dude’s car insurance!” – J

“Parents paying ANY bill when you’re clearing $100k/year at age 26…. Stop that crap.” – S

In response to: We remodeled our entire kitchen and kept the total under $3,000. Here’s how.

“It’s beautiful! Love the finishes. And I’m glad you guys had a good experience with the Ikea cabinets. We’re going that route when we do ours, and I love hearing real people talk about them.” – H

In response to: Former East Boulevard Bar & Grill space in Dilworth to become an Irish pub

“There is only one. The Milestone Club at 3400 Tuckaseegee Road is still The Milestone and has been The Milestone since 1969. sorry u couldn’t do a simple search “milestone charlotte” and find out that there already was a Milestone in Charlotte but the name you’ve chosen has to go. I wish you the best of luck with your new business but there are plenty of names to choose from & if you want the support of the Charlotte community then you’ll pick one that isn’t already taken (by a nearly 50 year old establishment a mere 10 minutes drive away).” – W