​Dear Idlewild Elementary families,

Welcome to Idlewild Elementary School, home of the Eagles! Idlewild is a neighborhood school with a partial Learning Immersion/Talent Development Magnet choice, located in East Charlotte. We serve around 900 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

At Idlewild, our goal is to empower all to be extraordinary. We are committed to an enthusiastic and positive culture, high expectations, and genuine relationships. We believe that increasing student achievement by focusing on social, emotional and academic learning will build the foundation students need to succeed in middle and high school, and beyond.

Idlewild opened in 1953, although the original building is no longer standing. There have also been several renovations and additions to the current structure over the years. Our school has a long and impressive history, and we are proud to play a significant role in our school’s present and future endeavors.

We are very proud of the diversity of our students and staff. We come from many different states and represent more than 40 countries; we believe this makes our school a very special place. While we value our diversity, we have some important things in common. We share a passion for building relationships. We value traditions and customs. We embrace individual contributions, personalities, and perspectives. We welcome all who enter—once you arrive, you quickly become a part of the Idlewild family!

At Idlewild, we developed the Eagle Pride Plan to recognize and reward our students through strategic positive reinforcement. Students earn Eagle Pride Points by demonstrating respect, responsibility and safety, which are our three pillars of success. The points provide students with the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of mid-quarter and end-of-quarter celebrations. Additionally, students receive positive referrals when they go beyond expectations and they are given the opportunity to spin the Principal’s Wheel of Wow for a multitude of incentive prizes.

Although our school is a partial magnet, we have magnetized our entire school. All teachers collaboratively plan rigorous, standards-aligned lessons that integrate the resources of our Academically and Intellectually Gifted program. Moreover, each week, teachers use multiple data points to personalize the learning opportunities for our students. Our commitment to excellence and our dedication to a positive school culture earned us the top honor from Magnet Schools of America in 2017, when we received the Ronald P. Simpson Award and were named the top magnet school in the nation out of more than 4,000 schools.  

TEAM is the focus of everything we do because it takes great commitment, effective communication and genuine collaboration from everyone to build upon the greatness of our past as we strive to make Idlewild Elementary soar!

To be a part of our TEAM, we invite you to participate in our school community as often as you can. To do so, please register as a CMS volunteer. All volunteers must complete the registration process each year and select Idlewild Elementary School as the site. Additionally, please remember you must bring your ID to sign in upon entering our school as we are working diligently to keep Idlewild safe.

We look forward to working with you as we empower all to be extraordinary!

Thank you for choosing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Idlewild Elementary.

Principal, Trishi Stewart