95 percent of wake parents facing choice take year-round school option

Raleigh, N.C. — Ninety-five percent of parents with children assigned to year-round schools for the fall are opting to stay there, Wake County Public School System officials said Wednesday.

About 1,200 families have yet to return the forms, school administrator said. If parents do not make a decision, their children will go to a traditional-calendar school.

The school system does expect about 2,500 to 3,000 families to opt for a traditional calendar.

The school system sent out consent forms to all parents about two weeks ago after a Wake County judge ruled it illegal for the school system to assign students to year-round schools without parental permission.

The ruling was made based on a civil lawsuit filed by a parents' group, WakeCares, which opposes year-round schools.

Some critics say that even though 95 percent of parents opted for year-round schools, that doesn't mean they are in favor of the schedule.

Some parents have said they did not have a choice because they were unsure of which traditional-calendar school their children would attend. Others were concerned a decision to switch was too soon before the July 9 start date for year-round schools.

System leaders' next challenge might be deciding what to do with year-round schools where parents have opted out. For example, only 100 families have opted out of year-round at Barwell Road Elementary School in Raleigh, and about 100 still haven't turned in their consent forms.

That could mean staff reduction or a change of schedule of schedule for the school.

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Latest Comments

jaksethi: Pooh and me aren't arguing. I kinda like her.

BofE is definitely NOT supernatural. I know they are not TRYING to screw it all up, they just can't help it. They are incompetent for the task they were elected for. I loathe incompetence, be it the BofE or Burger King. Come to think of it, maybe they should switch.......

speedy
May 25, 2007 12:01 p.m.

Pooh, we agree about everthing except me being spoiled. I just am demanding that the BofE do BETTER than they have. Requiring excellence from anybody is not being spoiled, it should be expected.

speedy
May 25, 2007 11:57 a.m.

The judge threw those poor unsuspecting WAKE CARES parents a bone, and the big bad wolf BOE got the last laugh after all.

What parent in their right mind is going vote against YR when they have no clue as to where their kids will go to school?

Man, when your elected officials really want to show you who the boss is they don't mess around.

scal
May 24, 2007 10:19 p.m.

As a teacher, I love the idea of year round. I would kill to get a break after each grading period. I think I would be a better teacher and the students would benefit from that.

But I love my "summer". With only weeks off between grading periods, I wouldn't get as much done. I love taking on my summer projects- like renovating my house, working on what I will do in class next year. With only 2 weeks off, I wouldn't have the extended time for them.

But I do think it is a personal thing and parents should be able to choose year round or traditional, knowing which school they would be placed at either way.

NCTeacher
May 24, 2007 10:06 p.m.

Welllll.....one thing is for sure, year round school will get them ready for year round working a job for the rest of their lives. (So they can pay 75% to the Gov't man. Which will probably be a woman by the time they start.)

lizard
May 24, 2007 9:52 p.m.