 The school has remained open, in part because of the response of its active alumni.In 2007, pastors in the Charlotte area, officials at Johnson C. Smith University, and city council member and future Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx formed the West Charlotte Mentoring Coalition, a collaborative effort to eliminate the 50% drop-out rate by providing mentoring and tutoring support for ninth graders at West Charlotte High School.The group placed each of the 550 incoming freshmen with a mentor.