Lamar
Charlotte, NC 28226

This is such an incredible neighborhood school. They encourage parental involvement. Kids are taught social emotional skills and it's integral to how the kids treat each other. Parents are welcome to volunteer to support the classroom. I have 3 kids who need IEP for learning differences. The staff is active in finding the needed support for each child. I wish more schools in CMS felt this supportive.

My child attended 6th-8th grades at Carmel. All 3 years were met with disappointment for multiple reasons. Upper administration is terrible. They don't respond to email, messages or requests directly from a student for assistance (for the student directly or their parent needing assistance). Teacher turnover is high, with many classes being taught by long term subs for weeks to months. Also my child had teachers not fully licensed who had no business teaching at the middle school level. The haves bully, embarras, cut down, judge and demean the have nots. A group of kids (same ones year to year) distracted multiple different subjects all 3 years. Often the same kids who bullied others. There are no consequences for the problem kids. They protect the kids who come from affluent and locally known families. They don't want parent involvement unless it is financial support, helping to run the student store, EOG proctors, or buying things for teacher support week. They don't want you checking up on your child's learning or trying to deal with issues outside normal middle school issues. Administration delegates everything to other people with a constant lack of follow up. I heard "I didn't know you were waiting on a response/follow up from me, I thought someone else was dealing with that, I never saw your email/got the message, or I thought that was dealt with/no longer an issue" multiple times throughout the 3 years my child attended. Continual excuses. The morning drop-off is a pain but the afternoon pick-up is a nightmare. If your child had a good experience at Carmel consider yourself (and them) lucky.

My daughter spent 4 years here and loved it. (She is now at UNC Chapel Hill). Took Advance Placement classes all 4 years, enjoyed dances & sporting events, and had some fantastic teachers. Buildings are independent of each other which allows kids to get outside during class. Have been impressed by leadership during the covid era and after. My son is attending South Meck now and is currently a sophomore. While he is not nearly as academic as my daughter, his teachers have been great at communicating with me regarding his progress in class. The population at South is very diverse and the students get along very well. The Language magnet brings some great language teachers to the school as well. In a city of more than a dozen high school, we are very happy at South- My kids are proud to be Sabres!