RALEIGH — Despite last-minute pleas from parents, the Wake County school board voted 7-1 this afternoon to convert 19 elementary schools to a mandatory year-round calendar in 2007.

School leaders said they need to convert the 19 schools, mostly located in growing areas such as Apex, west Cary, North Raleigh and Knightdale, to help keep up with the new students arriving in Wake. The school district reported that 126,922 students attended school today — 7,425 more than on the seventh day of school in 2005-06. Enrollment on the 20th day last year totaled 120,504.

The conversion of 19 elementary schools will shift more than 15,000 students from a traditional to a year-round calendar, eliminating those students’ long summer vacations in favor of shorter but more frequent breaks throughout the year.

“This is a decision we’re compelled to make, not what we want to make, due to the growth coming to Wake County,” said Patti Head, chairwoman of the school board.

The elementary schools being converted are: Ballentine, Baucom, Brassfield, Green Hope, Highcroft, Hodge Road, Holly Springs, Harris Creek, Knightdale, Leesville Road, Lockhart, Middle Creek, Olive Chapel, Pleasant Union, Rand Road, Salem, Vance, Wakefield and Willow Springs.

Last week, the board dropped Cedar Fork, Combs and Wakelon elementary schools from the list. The board had also delayed converting Carver Elementary until 2008.

The lone “no” vote today came from board member Ron Margiotta, who has opposed mandatory attendance for any year-round school.

As part of the agreement, Forestville Elementary in Knightdale will be turned into a magnet school.

The board is also considering the conversion of as many as six middle schools: East Garner, East Wake, Leesville, North Garner, Salem and Wakefield. The district will take public comments on those schools at its Web site, www.wcpss.net. A public hearing will be held at an undetermined location at 7 p.m. Sept. 14. A vote is scheduled for Sept. 19.

This is a massive expansion of Wake’s year-round program. Next year, 39 of Wake’s 96 elementary schools will be on a year-round calendar. By keeping buildings in constant use, a year-round school can essentially increase its capacity 20 percent to 33 percent.

To help carry out the changes, the board made several other decisions today:

* To ask administrators to draw up an application for parents to use if they want their kids to go to a traditional school instead of a year-round school.

* To allow rising fourth- and fifth-graders to stay at their current year-round school if their base school is converted. Younger year-round students will have to return to their base schools.

* To give priority for year-round students returning to their base schools to stay on their current scheduling “track.” Year-round students are divided into four groups, called tracks, with different schedules.

* To give priority for keeping siblings in year-round schools on the same track.

* To guarantee that teachers at year-round schools can have their children on the same track.

* To give priority for other employees at year-round schools to have children on the same track.

The vote came after 17 speakers urged the board to hold off on conversion. They complained that conversion would split families on different schedules and prevent them from being able to have long breaks to visit relatives.

“Please don’t force mandatory year-round on us,” said Amy Leinfelder, a parent at Pleasant Union Elementary School. “Please don’t fragment our families. Please don’t fragment our communities. Please allow those of us who desperately want to support the schools to do so.”

Several speakers vowed to vote against this fall’s $970 million school bond issue. Bond supporters have warned that all elementary schools and middle schools might be converted if the bond issue fails.

“I can guarantee that if you force year-round, you will not pass the bond,” said Cary parent Mark Trexler.