“Newsies” opens at Blumenthal
Volleyball Player of the Year: Katharine franz page 20
page 16
Serving The Arboretum, Ballantyne, Blakeney and SouthPark communities
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Volume 15, Number 2 • Jan. 9 to 15, 2015
Your community, your newspaper by Hannah Chronis editor@thecharlotteweekly.com
StoneCrest shopping center welcomes new restaurants, closes others
At Carolina Weekly Newspapers we have one goal: to serve our readers by providing thorough and effective coverage of hyper-local community and civic news. So at our Hannah Chronis three weekly publications, South Charlotte Weekly, Union County Weekly and Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly, and our monthly publicationPineville Pilot, we’re getting back to the basics. We want to be your newspaper. At South Charlotte Weekly, we want to be your No.
Big changes are coming to StoneCrest at Piper Glen. Read Hannah Chronis’s full story on page 10. Hannah Chronis/SCW photo
(see Community newspaper on page 4)
CMS ensures safety in wake of last month’s threats by Courtney Schultz education@thecharlotteweekly.com
In the wake of threats made against a few Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools (CMS) last month, area parents are looking for ways to help their students feel safe in the classroom. CMS representatives say the district already has implemented procedures and infrastructure to increase security and safety in schools. The district developed new security measures at the beginning of the 2014-15
school year, including electronic locks, identification systems, lobby guard systems, panic button installations, bi-directional amplifiers to improve communication with first responders and installation of about 4,000 security cameras around the district, including all elementary schools that previously didn’t have any on their campuses. “Schools (also) have various drills throughout the school year, including lockdown procedures, fire drills, evacuations (and) weather-related drills,” Yaviri Escalera, spokesperson for CMS, said in an email.
The drills help ensure students and faculty are prepared, if and when dangerous events happen, she added. “Lockdown drills are (particularly) important because it lets students know what they should do during a lockdown and how they should be behaving during the lockdown,” Escalera said. Schools also have safety plans, which are confidential and are not shared with the general public in order to maintain the safety of students and staff, she added. CMS Police Chief Randy Hagler said each high school has a police officer on
campus each day. “Parents are always welcome to contact their officer at their school in case there is something that just doesn’t look right,” Hagler said. Three CMS schools received threats against their students last month through the social media site Yik Yak. CMS Police apprehended the perpetrator, Patrick Philip Brehm, who made the threats against Providence High School, but are still investigating other threats made. “During last month’s threat, the district (see CMS safety on page 5)
INDEX: News Briefs, 6; Crime Blotter, 7; Scores, 8; Education, 13; A&E, 16; Calendar, 18; Sports, 20; Classifieds, 23