Wake school board considers calendar changes at 8 year-round campuses, delays vote

Wake County school leaders are considering moving up to eight year-round schools to either a traditional or a different year-round calendar in the coming years, in its latest move to curb costs and ease logistics at schools that are no longer overcrowded.

On Tuesday, school board members favored spending more time deliberating the proposals, given the feedback they've received. They now plan to vote on June 2 on whether to change the calendars.

The school board has approved a handful of similar changes in the past two years, largely in the county's eastern half, where schools have failed to grow as quickly as expected.

The eight schools up for consideration this spring include some western schools, also experiencing enrollment levels that no longer support multi-track year-round calendars designed to increase the schools' capacities.

Multi-track year-round calendars have been a popular tool in the school system since 2007, largely to expand schools' capacities. They work by dividing a school's student population into up to four groups and then rotating up to three groups in and one group out in shifts over 12 months.

Multi-track year-round calendars cost more to operate, so shifting them to just traditional or single-track year-round can save the district a few hundred thousand dollars per school.

Single-track year-round calendars are similar to traditional calendar schools in that students all attend at once, but they differ in that students attend over an extended period of time, tracking in for nine weeks and then taking three weeks off. Those are a schedule preference that don't expand a school's capacity.

Converting a multi-track year-round calendar to a traditional or single-track year-round calendar in the past has saved about $100,000 at an elementary school or more than $200,000 at a middle school.

The shift away from the multi-track year-round calendars that alleviated overcrowding comes as the school district's enrollment has been stagnant for the past decade. It isn't expected to grow too much over the upcoming decade, either, related in parts to declining birth rates, declining immigration and increasing competition from public charter, home and private schools.

The school board discussed the proposals for the eight schools for the first time Tuesday during a work session, after having to cancel its previously scheduled discussion because of a power outage that affected the boardroom.

Some school board members were skeptical that the schools needed to change from their year-round calendars because of development in the area.

They'd received considerable feedback from families in Wake Forest and Holly Springs who said they want to stay year-round and also questioned whether the Heritage and Holly Grove schools would stay underenrolled.

The schools up for a change for the 2027-28 school year include Holly Grove Elementary and Holly Grove Middle, which would move to traditional calendars, and Pleasant Grove, Holly Springs and Rex Road elementary schools, which would move to single-track year-round.

For the 2028-29 school year, the schools up for a change are Heritage Middle, Heritage Elementary and Sycamore Creek Elementary.

The district is considering a traditional calendar rather than a single-track year-round calendar for Heritage Middle. For Heritage Elementary, the district is considering either a single-track year-round calendar or expanding its base area to take students from other nearby and more crowded schools. Sycamore Creek Elementary would move to single-track year-round.

The district will give options to some families who attend those multi-track year-round schools solely for that calendar style, to be eligible to stay at those schools even if they drop the multi-track year-round calendars.

The school system hasn't published estimates for how much all eight calendar conversions would save the district, but it has estimated saving the equivalent of at least three or four employees.

The changes for Holly Grove elementary and middle schools is disappointing for many families, including the family of Jackie Stearns, a parent of two Holly Grove Elementary students and president of the school's parent-teacher association.

"We specifically moved to our exact neighborhood because it had a year-round elementary, middle school option," Stearns said.

On Tuesday, school system officials said the changes for Holly Grove would better align schedules for families connected to Holly Grove Middle. They offered a similar explanation for the changes to Heritage Elementary and Heritage Middle, though they are open to keeping Heritage year-round on a single-track schedule.

Four elementary schools, including Holly Grove Elementary, feed into Holly Grove Middle. Two have traditional calendars and two, including Holly Grove Elementary, have multi-track year-round calendars. The district's proposed changes would move Holly Grove Middle and three of its four feeder schools to traditional calendars. The district believes the changes would align more calendars and families across schools.

But it's a change many in the Holly Grove Elementary community don't support. Many families responded to district questions about possible calendar changes by saying they preferred year-round to traditional. Parents in the southwestern quadrant of the county generally preferred single-track year-round to traditional calendars, according to the district.

Stearns is one of them.

"It works great for my kids," Stearns said. "They're neurodivergent, and I feel like the wheels start coming off as we're leading up to the track out, and they just need that break. It's the perfect amount of time for us."

Parents like Stearns don't see academic problems with three weeks off or with the shorter summers.

During a public hearing in April on the school board's budgeting process, which took place at Holly Grove Middle, a handful of Holly Grove Middle parents and school employees spoke in favor of keeping a year-round calendar. They favored the three three-week breaks students get during the school year, among other things.

The district and school board members have also received feedback from families in the Wake Forest area, which has a high number of year-round schools and schools that have already been switched from multi-track year-round to another calendar because of growth that never materialized.

Board Member Cheryl Caulfield noted the new and growing Holding Village planned community across the street from Heritage Elementary and asked the district to consider keeping the school year-round to meet families' desires. That's something the district is willing to do on a single-track calendar, but not a multi-track one.

"We do not have the need for the additional seats in the area," Glenn Carrozza, the district's assistant superintendent for school choice, planning, assignment, said Tuesday.

Calendar changes in the past have drawn opposition from some families. Ahead of drafting the proposals, the district asked community members for feedback on any possible calendar changes, including what matters most to them when it comes to the type of calendar their child's school is on. Many families want their children to be on the same calendars, even if they attend different schools. Many also want a consistent calendar throughout their children's education, and don't want to worry about having another calendar change soon.

Stearns is glad the school district asked residents for comment, but she feels like it was all for naught.

"We're disappointed that Wake County didn't seem to take all of that feedback into account when they're now proposing that our two schools are moving to a traditional the other two schools are going to go to Track 4 year-round," Stearns said. "You know, parents are rightfully upset. We really think they gave us this opportunity to make our voices heard, and we did like they asked, and it's still not being considered."