Kannapolis City Schools

KANNAPOLIS — Because of construction delays, a new building at Kannapolis Middle School will not be ready for the start of the school year. But students will start school on time Aug. 28 and will have access to all regular courses and extracurricular activities.

The Kannapolis Board of Education has approved a plan designed to make things as easy as possible for students and families.

For the first half of the school year, seventh- and eighth-grade students will be housed in the current Kannapolis Middle School building.

Sixth-grade students who live in transportation zones closest to the school — those in the Shady Brook and Fred L. Wilson transportation zones — will attend class at the current school building. The remaining sixth-graders will be housed at G.W. Carver Elementary — the former Kannapolis Intermediate School — for the first half of the school year.

When Christmas break ends in January, all students will attend school at the Kannapolis Middle School campus.

Board members said they believe the plan is the best way to deal with the construction delays.

“We’re extremely disappointed that the new building won’t be opening on time as we had planned,” said Chairman Todd Adams. “However, we’re pleased with the plan that Dr. (Chip) Buckwell and his team have developed. We think it does a good job of making sure our students, staff and parents can go through this process with as little disruption as possible.”

Superintendent Buckwell said it is important to have a plan to make sure school could continue uninterrupted.

“We really hoped we could be inside the new middle school building in time for school to start. However, construction delays just aren’t letting that happen,” he said. “We know this is not an ideal situation, but we will do everything we can to make things as easy as possible for KMS students and families.”

“We’re making sure that all KMS students will keep their same teacher all year. We’re making sure they will ride the same bus all year, and we’re making sure they will have access to all their regular classes and extracurricular activities,” Buckwell said. “We’ll do our best to make everything as seamless as possible.”

Next week, sixth-grade families will receive a letter and phone call with specific information for their children and the plans for the upcoming year. Kannapolis Middle School also will have information for families at an open house on Aug. 26. The open house will be at the school.

The plan approved by the school board Aug. 2 includes the following details:

• Middle school students will be assigned to their regular teachers at the start of the year and will stay with those teachers throughout the year.
• Regardless of whether they are at Kannapolis Middle or G.W. Carver to start the year, students will be on the middle school schedule, with classes beginning at 7:15 a.m. each day and dismissal at 2:10 p.m.
• There will be no disruption for students or families at G.W. Carver Elementary. Those students will be dropped off in the morning and dismissed in the afternoon 90 minutes later than KMS students. They will eat breakfast and lunch more than an hour later, so there will be no overlap or disruption for transportation or meal services. In addition, Kannapolis Middle School students attending G.W. Carver will have art, P.E., band, music and other special classes at the start of the day before G.W. Carver students arrive for school. That will free up art and P.E. areas for Carver students to use during their regular school day, and Carver students will get the full benefit of all their arts magnet programs.
• Kannapolis Middle School students who attend Carver for the first part of the year will have access to a middle school guidance counselors, administrators, secretaries and teachers at Carver. Kannapolis Middle students also will have full access to extracurricular activities as well as music, art, AIG, EC, P.E., CTE and other services.
• Transportation services will remain the same for middle school students throughout the year. Sixth-graders who attend Carver will ride their usual bus.

The school system plans to move into the new Kannapolis Middle School building over the Christmas break.

Buckwell said making a move like this over a natural break in the school year is important.

“I’ve talked with other superintendents about their experiences, and I’ve looked back to when we’ve moved into new schools in KCS in the past. In every case, it’s been best to move when there is a regular break in the school year rather than trying to rush things over a weekend or a teacher workday,” he said. “We want to do this right, and we want to do what is best for our kids.”

An open house is planned for Jan. 2 at Kannapolis Middle School.