CHARLOTTE -- Some CMS teachers got a first-hand look at their students’ neighborhoods, as a group of educators from Bishop Spaugh Middle School boarded buses and hit the road Thursday.

CMS says it’s a good way for teachers to become more familiar with a student’s home life.

"Too often we have a lot of teachers that probably drive up [Interstate 85], come up Freedom Drive and come to the building,” said Principal Tyrone McDonald of how his teachers can get to class and bypass their students’ neighborhoods. “I thought it was important for us to understand our children and tour their neighborhoods."

The tour offered a look at an area many of the staff members have never seen.

"The more we know about our students, the better resources we are for them and our ability to understand where they are and what they bring with them to school every day," said eighth grade math teacher Melissa Miller.

This will be the first year Miller will be teaching math at Bishop Spaugh, and the first time she’s traveled down some of the west Charlotte streets she saw on Thursday. Some of the things she and others saw were construction zones, boarded-up windows and industrial parks in students’ back yards.

"It’s important we know our neighborhoods, communities, resources, where the kids are coming from, the kind of struggles they have and the things they do for fun,” said sixth grade math teacher Madria Spivey.

About 80 CMS staff members signed up for the tour, including school board members and staff from the central office.