RALEIGH - Low demand from Wake County families to opt out of year-round schools means school leaders expect to be able to accommodate all of the requests.

Figures released Friday show that 1,519 families applied last month for the 2,600 seats set aside at traditional-calendar schools for those who said they couldn't make the year-round schedule work.

While the requests are still being reviewed, school officials say they're so few and so spread out around the county that they should be able to honor them all.

"I want to stop short of saying everyone because there could be that one case," said Patti Head, chairwoman of the school board. "But according to the numbers, I believe we can accommodate them all. We're thrilled that we'll be able to accommodate the parents' wishes."

This is the first time parents assigned to year-round schools could apply to attend traditional-calendar schools. Their only prior choices were to apply to magnet schools or request a transfer.

The change was made due to complaints from parents at the 22 schools that will convert to a year-round schedule in July.

Many parents have opposed the conversions, citing such objections as having children on different schedules and the loss of the long summer vacation. One group, Wake CARES, has threatened to sue over the conversions, which the school system says are needed to keep up with growth.

Patricia Topakian was one of the parents who filed to get a traditional-calendar seat. Her middle child is a fourth-grader at Brassfield Elementary School in North Raleigh, which will be converted to a year-round calendar.

"I'm desperate," Topakian said. "I have three kids. I can't go on a year-round schedule."

Head said she's hopeful that school leaders have satisfied concerns of county commissioners who asked the school board to come up with alternatives for parents who do not want their children on the year-round calendar.

The school board voted last month to spend $2.9 million of its own funds to pay for the conversions after commissioners refused to turn over the money.

Before the application period started last month, some parents had threatened to flood the school system with requests to leave the converted schools.

School board member Lori Millberg said the number of applications confirmed her thinking that relatively few parents would apply to leave the converted schools.

"People have told me 'I don't like year-round, but I'm not going to leave'," Millberg said. "The bottom line is people love their schools and want to stay there."

But Dave Duncan, co-founder of the parent group Stop Mandatory Year-Round, said the demand was low because parents didn't like the traditional-calendar choices given to them. Parents could apply to one school identified by the district.

"To say that you have an option that's less than desirable isn't an option," Duncan said.

He also said some parents didn't think they'd have a realistic chance of getting accepted so they didn't apply.

Duncan said many parents are trying to leave the school system, applying for charter schools and private schools -- and are considering home schooling.

Duncan said some parents, like himself, applied instead to magnet schools to try to get a traditional-calendar seat. School officials say they received 9,285 applications for magnet schools. That's up from 7,735 from last year.

Another 3,318 families applied for seats in year-round schools. That's down from 4,365 applications last year.

Altogether, 12,365 families applied to send their children to magnet schools or schools that follow a different calendar from those they're assigned to attend.

Parents will be notified by March 15 whether their application has been approved.