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“stretched extremely thin.” who tested positive for “With increases in staff COVID-19 and an addiabsences, which are driven tional 1,982 students in by the Omicron variant’s quarantine. The district had rapid spread, we may soon 615 confirmed staff cases face some difficult deci- and 689 employees in quarsions,” Winston said.by“ItCharlotte is antine.Media Group Brought to you nearly inevitable that teachIn recent days, CMS has ing and learning will be im- averaged more than 1,000 pacted more significantly teacher absences. Substi2 – 2 on 0 2 less than 50% should the virus remain on tutes took 00 2 its current trajectory.” of those vacancies, which He pointed to data from requires teachers and othJan. 3 to 9 that showed er staff members covering YEARSE CMS had 1,249 students classes during planning
Union County
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P.O. BOX 1104 Matthews, NC 28106 (704) 849-2261
CHARLOTTE – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston called on the community Jan. 11 to step up to serve as substitutes as the district experiences absences among teachers and other staff due to COVID-19. Winston thanked employees for their work in helping maintain in-person learning, but he expressed to the school board and the public that his staff is
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South CMS Charlotte deals with staff absences 2
time. In some cases, central office staff filled in for absent t4eachers. Winston acknowledged that students are not receiving the full level of support the district wants to provide, considering classrooms are staffed with people who are not content experts like teachers. As far as transportation, CMS has had between 120 and 145 bus drivers absent
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or on approved leave. CMS has used substitute drivers, double runs and combined routes to fill in the gaps, but families are seeing delays of up to 45 minutes. “Our capacity to cover transportation routes is approaching the maximum,” Winston said. “Any upturn in driver absences will impact our ability to transport students to and from school as we continue to move forward.”
Budget 101
Mohrien to lead new Mint Hill school
Finance department keeps town running, 5A
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by Justin Vick
Matthews Mayor John Higdon joined members of BAPS Charities in distributing checks to three nonprofits on Jan. 11, including Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity. Photo courtesy of Vasant Patel
Common foe Community can fight hunger via walk, 1B
Spirit of Service by Justin Vick
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Inspiration Get home & garden ideas from show, 2B
Cookie craving? Girl Scouts are taking orders, 2B
MATTHEWS – BAPS Charities presented $8,000 checks Jan. 11 to the Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity, Matthews Free Medical Clinic and Matthews HELP Center to thank them for working through the pandemic. Amy Carr, of the Matthews Free Medical Clinic, said her nonprofit has seen over a 60% increase in new patients over the past two years. “It’s not just the people that we’re serving, but our staff has felt it firsthand – the shortages with this new variant,” Carr said. “We are always trying to promote the slow of the spread of COVID over the last two years, which includes canceling fundraisers in-person events, community events in sharing our mission. We have been hit hard financially through that yet have had a great demand put on us.” see BAPS, Page 5A
Amy Carr, of the Matthews Free Medical Clinic, accepts a check for $8,000 from BAPS Charities. Photo courtesy of Vasant Patel
Sandra Conway, of Matthews HELP Center, accepts a check for $8,000 from BAPS Charities. Photo courtesy of Vasant Patel
CHARLOTTE – Frederick “Rick” Mohrien will be leaving Winget Park Elementary School in Charlotte to become principal of the new southeast relief elementary school in Mint Hill. The 45-classroom school will open in 2022-23 to provide relief to Bain, Lebanon Road and Piney Grove elementary schools. It will be located on the Mint Hill Middle School campus. Mohrien was assistant principal at Shamrock Gardens Elementary from 2014 to 2017 and resident principal at Albemarle Road Elementary from 2013 to 2014. Prior to joining CMS, he taught in New York from 2005 to 2013. CMS approved school boundaries for the relief school on Nov. 9, but school board member Sean Strain said at the time that more work needed be done to alleviate overcrowding at Bain Elementary. Strain asked Associate Superintendent Akeshia Craven-Howell on Jan. 11 if there were plans to reengage the Mint Hill community about how the district was going to balance enrollment between the relief school and Bain. Strain said Bain had a high utilization rate. “Our lottery will conclude this month, which begins our process for projecting enrollment for all schools,” Craven-Howell told Strain. “I think it could be helpful to look at what relief we were able to achieve and the decisions the board just made here recently in the spring and see what additional relief is needed at Bain and begin engagement from there.”
Matthews fire chief outlines need for additional staffing by Justin Vick
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MATTHEWS – Town leaders don’t want to find themselves drinking from a fire hose when it comes to staffing Matthews Fire & EMS, but Chief Rob Kinniburgh attributes a lack of manpower to his department falling short of its goals. Kinniburgh strives to have the first engine or ladder arrive with
four personnel to the scene of a fire within seven minutes of getting the call from dispatch. Matthews Fire & EMS hit that goal 80% of the time in 2021. The department strives for 90%. “We’re getting there in good time,” Kinniburgh told commissioners on Jan. 3. “We’re just understaffed.” Matthews Fire and EMS has 30 career personnel, including 21 firefighters and emergency medical
technicians. It also uses 59 volunteers, including 31 firefighters and EMTs. “Staffing is our number one concern,” Kinniburgh said. “Our current blended staffing model, assumed that volunteerism could be a long-term sustainable way to staff, but we’re finding that’s not the case. Hiring is extremely difficult, volunteer participation nationally is dropping off and the training standards are continuing
to increase.” Kinniburgh said Matthews ranked seventh among 11 comparable departments in October 2021 in terms of starting pay for a firefighter. Commissioners recently allowed the department to offer premium pay from ARPA funds as a quick fix. Kinniburgh said there’s a need to hire 18 new positions for the future Fire Station No. 3 by 2024. They’ll likely have to compete with
the likes of Mint Hill and Stallings for firefighters as those communities enhance their departments. Mint Hill will be adding another station while Stallings is shifting to more of a full-time staff. “We need to change our mindset,” Kinniburgh said. “We need to explore a hire-then-train academy-style certification training program. It allows us to cast a wider see FIRE, Page 5A