Parent protest may prompt students to skip class, picket

RALEIGH -- Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Wake County children might play hooky with their parents' blessing to protest their schools being converted to a year-round calendar.

Leaders of Stop Mandatory Year-Round, a group formed to protest the conversion, say they might ask parents to pull their children from school Oct. 3. The students would then join their parents to picket a school board meeting.

Dave Duncan and Glenn Astolfi, co-founders of Stop Mandatory Year-Round, say no decision has been made to hold the "sick-out" yet. They say they want to discuss the idea with parents at a 2 p.m. meeting Sunday at the Apex Town Hall complex, 73 Hunter St.

"We want to be heard and we want to have our children involved," said Astolfi, who has a child at Olive Chapel Elementary School in Apex, one of the schools being converted.

The board voted last week to convert 19 elementary schools to a year-round calendar in 2007 as a way to keep up with growth. The board might vote Tuesday to convert five middle schools.

Year-round schools can handle 20 percent to 33 percent more students than traditional schools by splitting students into four groups and putting the building into constant use.

Opponents dispute that the district can get as many seats as it contends and still haven't given up hope they can get the conversions reversed.

Duncan and Astolfi said one idea being floated is "Track Out Solidarity Day" on Oct. 3. Duncan said he is getting a permit to picket in front of the district's administrative offices.

The unanswered question is whether any students will join their parents there. More than 15,000 students attend the 19 schools approved for conversion.

Astolfi said he realizes it might be hard for parents to not send their children to school. But he said the students would learn from participating in the protest.

"We don't want to hurt anybody's education," Astolfi said. "But we believe it could be a valuable civics lesson."

Jane Ann Hughes, principal of Highcroft Elementary School in Cary, one of the schools to be converted, hopes parents keep their children in class Oct. 3 so they don't miss any school work.

"If a parent wants to take the day off and protest, fine," Hughes said. "I don't think it's a good way for children to spend their time."

Some parents are trying to work within the system to stop conversion. Most of the 33 speakers at the public hearing Thursday at Sanderson High School in North Raleigh urged that their child's middle school not be converted.

The attendance was much less than at last month's hearing on converting the elementary schools. Duncan had told people not to bother attending the hearing Thursday.

"I'd show up if I thought it would make a difference," Duncan said. "They've already made up their minds."

One of the most frequent concerns raised Thursday was how families will lose time together when they have children at year-round middle schools and traditional-calendar high schools.

Parents demanded that the vacancies at the existing year-round middle schools be filled first.

Cary parent Kim Wallace said it is not too late to stop.

"If the board had the power to make this horrific decision, then they have the same power to turn this mess around," Wallace said.