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Wake Still Mulls Mandatory Year-Round Schooling

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RALEIGH — The Wake County School Board is still discussing a plan to force some students to attend year-round schools.

The aim is to alleviate overcrowding, but plenty of parents do not like the board's solution.

John Marsland is one parent who opposes the plan. His daughter Emily attends Carroll Middle School, one of two designated for the mandatory plan.

"We have a good mix of kids. Twenty-five percent reduced lunch kids and one of the highest end-of-grade scores in the county," he said.

Marsland worries that a new mix of kids and teachers will threaten his children's education. But Wake County is running out of space. The board sprang the idea on residents just a few weeks before a hearing.

Despite the hearing, Marsland said he and other parents feel the board "has not been listening," and that there is no dialog.

"The process the board has is combative, I would say. They talk, we are allowed to talk, and no where is there any dialog," he said.

So tonight Marsland will meet with other parents and then they plan to present their opposition to the scheduling change later this week to the school board.

One board member, Judy Hoffman, said she has been open to dialog all along.

"I think I've become very concerned that they sometimes feel if we don't say we agree with them on every point, they feel they haven't been heard."

The school board will make its final vote November 14.

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