School will test board's resolve

By the end of this week, Wake County parents should have a pretty good idea of where their children will go to school during the 2011-12 school year.

Wake school board members will take feedback from parents at five public hearings this month and propose changes to a plan that now calls for moving 4,703 students to different schools this fall.

Two school board work sessions this week should lead to a series of unofficial votes that will shape the final plan scheduled to be adopted Feb.1.

One topic that could draw a heated discussion is whether the new Walnut Creek Elementary School in Southeast Raleigh should open on a year-round calendar or on a traditional calendar.

"We're four, four and one and increasingly that one depends on what she thinks on any given day," said school board member John Tedesco, referring to the Walnut Creek calendar vote.

The one Tedesco is referring to is the board vice chairwoman, Debra Goldman, who has split from her fellow Republicans on several reassignment votes.

Tedesco is the most vocal of a contingent of board members who want Walnut Creek to open on a year-round calendar. That's because year-round schools, by splitting the students into four groups with three in class at all times, can theoretically hold up to 33 percent more students than traditional-calendar schools.

Tedesco wants the extra capacity at Walnut Creek so that in the next few years the school district can put more students there as part of the move to neighborhood schools without taking seats at nearby magnet schools in Southeast Raleigh.

Thousands of Southeast Raleigh students are being bused out of their neighborhoods to diversify suburban schools. But now that the school board is stressing neighborhood schools, the district is trying to find a way to let Southeast Raleigh children go to school closer to home without taking away too many seats at magnet schools, which are mostly near downtown Raleigh.

"We've got to open it as a year-round school, especially if we want Southeast Raleigh students going to school without negatively impacting the magnet program," Tedesco said.

Calendar resistance

For those families who say the year-round calendar won't work for them, Tedesco says they should be allowed to attend Bugg Elementary School, a nearby traditional-calendar school that has space.

But school staff members are recommending that Walnut Creek open on a traditional calendar, citing the recent slowdown in growth that they say means there's less need right now for another year-round school in the area.

The staff's position is also backed by a contingent of board members led by Keith Sutton, whose district includes the area around Walnut Creek. Sutton is pointing to the problems that low-income families have historically had with the year-round calendar.

Year-round schools eliminate the long summer break in favor of several short breaks throughout the year, which can result in higher child-care costs.

Supporters of the year-round calendar tout how the frequent short breaks let families go to vacation destinations during off-peak times.

Sutton said that low-income families can't just take off whenever they want.

"I'm not saying families don't love the year-round calendar after they start," Sutton said. "But families are concerned about how they can afford the child care."

Sutton is arguing that Walnut Creek families who want the year-round calendar should be allowed to go to nearby East Garner Elementary School, which has space.