Parents Divided On Year-Round Middle School Proposal in Wake

Parents Divided On Year-Round Middle School Proposal In Wake

"I wanted my children to have a summer vacation," said Hunter. "I grew up with a summer vacation, and I wanted my kids to enjoy the same thing."

Now, however, Hunter said the year-round schedule would help reduce class sizes and overcrowding.

"I don't see that we have any other option," she said. "We have to go year-round. Even if we had the money to build schools right now, we couldn't build them overnight. So the quickest option we have is to go year-round."

Hunter said she's gotten a lot of feedback from fellow parents about the change. She said the majority oppose it.

School board member Horace Tart is pushing for the change. He said more than 3,000 parents opted to send their children to schools elsewhere within the county, leaving Garner schools with a disproportionate number of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches. He said he believes that the calendar change could restore some socioeconomic balance to North Garner Middle.

"Allowing North Garner Middle to go year-round will be great for Garner, because it's going to bring those people back to Garner who have opted to go somewhere else," Tart said.

Wake County dropped East Garner Middle School off the year-round conversion list, deciding it would be better to covert North Garner. Parents can sound off about the plan at a public meeting scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. at Sanderson High School.