Wake schools warn of split sessions

Burns: Only way if conversion nixed to year-round

RALEIGH -- Wake County school leaders are threatening to put some elementary students on split shifts with some children leaving home before sunrise and others getting home after sunset, if they lose the year-round conversion lawsuit.

In court documents filed Wednesday, the school system warned that it will be thrown into chaos if a judge grants an injunction blocking it from converting 22 schools to a year round calendar this summer.

"In short, there is no way to provide additional capacity through mobile units or reassignment," Superintendent Del Burns said in an affidavit. "The only remaining option for educating students in the most overcrowded schools in the county would be to move to split shifts."

None of the documents say which schools might go to split sessions. Burns said in an interview Wednesday night that he could not identify specific schools that could be converted to split shifts.

In the document, Burns said schools on split shifts would have to start at 7 a.m., meaning some elementary students would catch the school bus as early as 6:15 a.m. By not offering lunch, they'd end at noon.

He said the second group, which also wouldn't get a meal, couldn't start before 1:30 p.m. and would end at 7 p.m. Some students would get home as late as 7:45 p.m.

Burns complained that using split sessions would "be damaging to the health and welfare of young children and would negatively impact their education." But he said they'd have little choice.

"An injunction at this time would virtually guarantee that thousands of Wake County's students and hundreds of teachers would be forced to attend school in grossly overcrowded conditions," Burns said. " ... [T]he risk of harm to the education of these students and the working condition of these teachers is far greater than anything described in any of the affidavits filed by the Plaintiffs."

Split sessions have been proposed in the past to deal with growth, but usually only for high schools. The option has been considered too drastic for elementary students. Most elementary schools start at 9:15 a.m. and end at 3:45 p.m.

Dawn Graff, a founder of Wake CARES, the parents group which filed the lawsuit, said any dire consequences that would be imposed by not going ahead with conversion are the fault of the school system for not planning proper alternatives.

"It all goes back to lack of preparation on their part," Graff said. "They've never had a Plan B."

The Wake CARES lawsuit against the conversions argues that requiring only some students to attend year-round schools violates the state constitution's guarantee of a "uniform system" of schools with "equal opportunities" for all students. The group has said conversion will limit extracurricular activities for students and tear families apart by putting siblings on different schedules.

School leaders say they need to convert the schools to year-round schedules to help keep up with growth. Schools on a year-round calendar can handle more students than traditional schools because the buildings are in constant use with four staggered schedules, or tracks.

But some parents say Wake is overstating the growth crisis and year-round conversion was not the only alternative. For instance, they say, having schools revert to the maximum enrollments they've had over the past four years would provide enough seats until more new schools open.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. will hear the case April 18.