The Week Ahead

CMS Legal Records Management Policy

This legal alert provides information impacting every CMS employee when they create, share, and destroy records. Public records policy and law affects everything from emails, to text messages, to lesson plans, and beyond. Because records management is a part of North Carolina law, make sure you are aware of the following wildly important facts that are linked below.

Clothing Support For Students (MHES PTA)

The PTA understands the importance of having clothing items readily available in classrooms to address students’ needs quickly and discreetly. This ensures that if a student has an accident and needs a change of clothes, they won’t have to walk to the front office in wet or soiled clothing to access the Manatee Care Closet.

The MHES PTA is committed to minimizing classroom interruptions and supporting you in addressing these situations effectively. To help, we will help provide essential 2-4 sets of clothing items that can be kept in your classrooms. To request clothing for your class, please complete the form linked below:

You can use this form to restock as needed throughout the school year. Since this is a work in progress, we may adjust the form based on your needs and feedback. While the MHES PTA will do its best to fulfill all requests, please understand that our ability to gather and distribute these items depends on donations, volunteer support, and available funding. We respectfully ask for your patience as we work to meet these needs.

We also strongly encourage you to remind families to include a change of clothes in their child’s backpack, regardless of grade level. The PTA will share this reminder in our weekly updates to help ensure students are prepared for unexpected situations. Thank you for your unwavering dedication to our students. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or if you have additional needs.

Upcoming MTSS Meeting

We will be meeting on Wednesday, February 5^th (1^st grade will meet February 4^th) during planning for MTSS. During this meeting, we will review student progress and identify students who may require an individual intensive problem-solving meeting. We will hold intensive problem-solving meetings on February 17 (work day). If you are not working this day we will plan for another date.

Grades 1-5: After you’ve completed MOY testing, please complete this document to review student progress and next steps: MTSS Review 2/5/205

Also, after you’ve completed MOY testing, if you have students who you would like have an intensive problem-solving meeting for please complete this document. This document should be completed before February 5^th and should only be for students who are receiving intensive interventions and are not making growth: Intensive Problem-Solving Meetings

Classified Compensation Study Update

Below, you can watch the recording of the Board of Education meeting where the recommendations from the Classified Compensation Study were discussed. This meeting offered an in-depth review of the study's findings and proposed next steps. CMS encourages you to review the recording for a better understanding of the recommendations and the discussion that took place. Additional information can be accessed through the following links:

• Presentation Link

• Job Placement Link

• Proposed Schedules Link

• Frequently Asked Questions

As a reminder, the Board will vote on these recommendations during the meeting on January 28, 2025. Since the recommendations are not yet approved, CMS is unable to share additional details at this time. Following the vote, CMS will provide individual emails to all classified employees by the end of February with specific information regarding their placement and the impact of the study on their compensation.

MOY Testing Updates

In January, we have four middle of year assessments occurring at the same time. Jennifer has created a testing calendar for the school that covers all the testing. When she emails in the future about MOY testing, she will keep the subject line the same: MOY Testing (NAME OF TEST.DATE) to help with searching for information. Please be patient with errors that may be in this schedule, as there are a lot of testing sessions to juggle and navigate. She put all staff members that will be involved with the testing on the calendar, so you will be aware if typical supports or groups are unable to occur-we know the massive impact testing has schoolwide and we are so sorry for this interruption.

With ACCESS testing, all groups are mapped out as best as can be done at this point. We have 246 1st-5th MLL students that require 4 subtests each and 41 Kindergarten MLL students that have 4 subtests given in a 1-on-1 session. (If you do the Math: that's at least 1,025 subtests!!) Once the students reach Speaking and Writing, they are divided by tiers based on their performance on Listening and Reading, so the groups change, but Jennifer will keep you updated as best as she can. Kindergarten teachers: Your students will be pulled 1-on-1 throughout the day based on your schedule, but there is no formal scheduling because of the individualized nature of the testing and pacing of the student.

An updated testing schedule will be shared later with specific times on the days of the test administration.

The testing calendar is presented in two ways. The first 6 tabs represent all the tests being administered school-wide by week. The second 6 tabs are grade specific tabs that lay out more like a monthly calendar.

Chromebook Updates for Testing

Some Chromebooks have been showing a white screen for no reason. This is fixable by powerwashing the device. Ms. Hollensteiner can do this in a few minutes, and it seems to resolve the issue. Since testing is coming up, she wanted to share how to do this so that you can do it on your own (or you can email her). If you have any issues with Chromebooks, please reach out to Ms. Hollensteiner.

MOY PDP Updates

On January 23rd, the Mid-Year PDP is due for all staff members who have a PDP. For the mid-year you do not need to meet with the administrative team. You can follow the directions on the PDP document linked below. If you are interested in meeting with your grade level administrator to go over your PDP, please schedule a time to meet with them.

2025 Payroll Updates

The CMS Payroll department is committed to keeping you informed about changes to pay dates in 2025. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, employees who are paid monthly will see a shift in their pay dates in November and December. This notice is being provided in advance to allow for proper planning and budgeting.

• November 2025: The pay date will move to Nov. 28, reflecting the last business day of the month in 2025.

• December 2025: The pay date will move to Dec. 31.

Pay schedules will remain the same for biweekly employees, with paydays every other Friday. There was only one exception to this during the 2024-25 school year when there was a minor adjustment of one day during spring break.

Why is this change happening?: Historically, the earlier pay dates before the holidays were necessary when payroll was handled manually, and employees needed to receive their checks before breaks when banks and couriers were not operational. However, with modern banking technology, especially direct deposit, these logistical issues no longer apply. Funds will be deposited to your account on the pay date, even if it falls on a holiday. Please note that direct deposit is a condition of employment, ensuring your pay is deposited on time regardless of holidays or closures. For monthly-paid employees, this change also helps address the unusually long gap of up to six weeks between December and January paychecks under the current system. Moving the December pay date to the end of the month ensures more consistency and compliance with North Carolina General Statutes, which mandate regular, predictable pay intervals. The decision to adjust the pay schedule was made to ensure legal compliance and fairness across the board. Please rest assured that we have considered the impact on employees and are providing more than a year's notice for proper planning. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to our payroll team or your supervisor.

At Home in CMS

Endless possibilities start with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and that includes our educators and where they call home. We are committed to responding to the expressed need from our staff about increasing awareness of and access to various housing options and special housing programming for CMS staff in Charlotte and throughout Mecklenburg County.

Join us at the CMS Housing Fair on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at East Mecklenburg High School. This event is designed exclusively for CMS staff and will provide you with valuable resources and guidance on all things housing, whether you’re looking for high-quality, lower-cost rentals, needing information on how to become a homeowner, or are ready to take the step to purchase a home soon.

The event will include feature panels, small-group sessions, and an expo where you can speak 1:1 with lenders, apartment property managers, housing counselors, and others in the field. 

Register here for the Housing Fair. For more information, visit At Home in CMS.

CMS Good News Submissions

Share good news with CMS Communications!  Did you win an award? Have a colleague you'd like to give a shout-out to? Or maybe you have a classroom strategy you think is unique? Let us know! We'd love to hear from you.

Active Survival Training

All CMS employees who have not attended the ABCs of Active Survival OR have not attended since July 1, 2022, are required to attend the training. There will be another training on Friday, Jan. 24. Registration in MyTalent: Course #425839 ABCs of Active Survival. CMS has indicated that staff trained in 2022 will have to re-attend beginning in the 2025-2025 school year (our group training was in 2022). If you do not wish to attend Active Survival Training during the Back to School Workdays, please consider signing up for it during the remainder of the 2024-2025 SY.

Reminder: Atrium Clinic for Staff 

As a reminder, our Atrium Virtual Health Clinic isn’t just for students—staff can utilize it as well! If you need to see a provider, please reach out to Rick and/or Nurse Haley.

Manatees Give Back!

We have exciting news to share! In collaboration with other donors, our 3rd grade students from last year (this year’s 4th grade students) were able to fund a new rainwater collection system for Bukwali Primary School in Kisumbi, Uganda! Thank you to everyone who donated and supported this awesome project—especially the families of our current 4th-grade students and our 3rd grade teachers from 2023-2024! Because of this new rainwater system, 16 staff members and 623 students will save approximately 7.33 hours of collection time per day and 2.47 miles of walking each day! Way to go, Manatees!

MHES 24-25 Yearbook

Drop your pictures from this year in this folder so that they can be shared in our MHES yearbook!

Social Committee Updates

A Huge Shout Out and Thank You to Angie Hannan for opening her home to us! If you are interested in attending, please sign up at the link below to bring a dish to share!

i-Ready Resources

Looking for resources for using iReady in your classroom and with your students? Use the link below for a variety of resources to ensure that iReady is a key focus of your classroom practice.

FAC Notes & Updates

Previous FAC Notes

• November/December 2024 FAC

• September/October 2024 FAC

Here are the notes from the Performance Area Advisory Council (PAAC):

Jan. 9 PAAC Meeting Notes

Nov. 6 PAAC Meeting Notes

Updates & Information