Thousands sign petition to save Wake schools spring break
Citing long-standing plans and lost vacation deposits, more than 5,000 people had signed an online petition posted in protest of the plan, announced Saturday, to make up snow days during spring break.
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The Wake County Board of Education, scrambling to make up eight instructional days lost to snow and ice in February, first told families that spring break, scheduled for the week beginning Monday, March 23, would be safe.
At their Tuesday meeting, the school board decided to make up most of the time using so-called "banked hours" that students accumulate by attending class beyond North Carolina's required minimum.
That left three days, and board members designated April 3 and two Saturdays to be named later as the makeup days.
That was enough for Vickie Nizen of Apex.
"Of course my kids weren’t happy with it, but that was the schedule, and we were fine with that," she said. "I went ahead and booked my plans for spring break vacation on the beach."
On Saturday, under criticism of the decision to make students attend class on Good Friday and on weekends, the board changed course and brought spring break into play.
"Bait and switch," Nizen called it.
"I have got two seniors and a freshman at school. My freshman is going to miss three days of class," she said. "You know how it is once you make beach reservations, especially when you're two weeks out. You can’t make those changes."
About 100,000 students on traditional calendars are affected by the change, which makes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of spring break full class days.
Among those students is Millbrook senior Erin Baker, who, her father said, started the petition in hopes her birthday party can be saved.
Erin asked her parents for a beach getaway with 10 friends to celebrate her 18th birthday, which coincides with the Saturday after spring break. Now, Steve Baker said, his daughter doesn't know how many of those friends will be allowed to spend the week with her.
“We recognize many parents make plans for spring break,” said Christine Kushner, school board chairwoman. “But we also appreciate many more children will be right here at home and could take advantage of the only available stretch of quality instructional time left on this year’s calendar. We trust parents will make the best decisions for their families.”
"2 weeks notice is disrespectful. I understand there probably isn't a great answer. The state needs to change its law regarding school year dates. Teachers needed to be treated better," wrote Kathy Glidden.
"When WCPSS informed us that 'Spring Break is safe,' we confirmed our vacation plans. Now we either have our kids miss school or we lose our deposit," Roger Wilson wrote.
"Why (is) just following the calendar is so hard," William Lu wrote. "Does the school system have an obligation to follow its own calendar?"
School system spokeswoman Lisa Luten said those days are "not ideal" because teachers use them to finish up administrative tasks like turning in grades.
Two days previously scheduled to be early-release days for traditional-calendar students – Friday, March 6 and Friday, April 17 – will now be full days.
“Our students have lost a huge amount of time in the past month, and there just aren’t any good options left for recovering that much instruction,” Superintendent Jim Merrill said in a statement. “It’s a tough situation for everyone – teachers, parents and students – and we are trying to make the best of it.”
Nizen sees the whole mess as a learning opportunity for district leaders.
"I'm just hoping that Wake County can learn from this – that either they don't need to make an announcement so quick or that once they make an announcement they stick to that announcement," she said.
As for her family of seven, they'll be spending spring break at the beach.
The school system on Saturday also announced its final makeup day plans for the 50,000 students who attend schools on non-traditional calendars. Those schools can recover the time using a combination of Saturday classes already scheduled as make up days and by replacing teacher workdays with regular classroom lessons, school system officials said.
Wednesday, March 25 – Schools will operate on a normal weekday schedule
Saturday, May 30 – Schools will operate on a normal weekday schedule
Friday, April 17 – This early release day is extended to a full day
Saturday, May 30 – Schools will operate on a normal weekday schedule
Saturday, May 30 – Schools will operate on a normal weekday schedule
Saturday, May 30 – Schools will operate on a normal weekday schedule
Tuesday, June 2 – Schools will operate on a normal weekday schedule
Friday, May 29 – Workday becomes normal school day
Friday, May 22 – Workday becomes normal school day
Friday, May 29 – Workday becomes normal school day
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