School years up in the air

Wake may switch calendar for some

Thousands of Wake County parents don't know whether their children will still be on a year-round calendar next year or back on a traditional schedule.

Their lives became more uncertain last week when the Wake County school board asked the staff to look at switching back some of the 22 schools that were converted to a year-round calendar.

Some parents are cheering the possible calendar change, while others are upset. But for everyone, it represents a major unknown in their family's lives.

"We'll have to deal with it the best we can," said Joni Bailey, PTA president of Knightdale Elementary School, a converted school. "With Wake County, things are always uncertain."

There are far more questions than answers right now:

* How many schools are under consideration?

* Will any schools be put back on a traditional calendar?

* Would the schools be switched next year or later on?

* Will conversion be tied to passage of a bond issue for school construction?

"There are so many choices right now," said Rosa Gill, chairwoman of the school board. "These choices all have consequences. We have to look at what will help the most people."

The conversions are back on the table because the school board is working on what could be part of a bond issue that could go on the ballot in 2009. The board wants to know how switching some schools back would affect the bond issue.

The school board heavily increased the use of year-round schools as part of a $970 million bond issue passed in 2006 -- a decision that nearly doomed the referendum. Year-round schools can hold more students than traditional-calendar schools by putting the building to constant use, thereby reducing construction costs.

Board members said they need to reconsider the conversions in light of the slowdown in growth that could see enrollment fall short of projections by 2,000 students for the second year in a row.

"If these projections didn't completely pan out, it makes sense to reconsider the decision," school board member Lori Millberg said.

But revisiting the issue infuriates Allison Carson, who has a child at Olive Chapel Elementary School in Apex, a converted school.

"It's only been one year," Carson said. "They really have to give people a chance to settle in. I'd really be unhappy if Olive Chapel switched back."

And Bailey, the mother from Knightdale Elementary School, is worried that switching the school back would make her life harder because she'd also have children attending a year-round middle school.

Since Tuesday, the school board has been lobbied by parents at Leesville Road Elementary School in North Raleigh. Leesville had one of the more vocal opposition groups to conversion.

But board members seem more focused on switching back schools in Knightdale and Apex, which each had three elementary schools and a middle school converted.

Millberg said she's looking at switching Knightdale Elementary and Baucom Elementary in Apex. Baucom is well under capacity, and Millberg said she doubted that the growth in Knightdale will be enough to fill the converted schools and a new year-round school opening in 2009.

Switching Baucom back would be welcomed by a majority of parents, according to Beth Roach, who has two children there.

"I gave it a fair shake," Roach said. "But it shattered our school community. I'm hoping it will be restored."

School board member Ron Margiotta, who has opposed the conversions since the beginning, hopes to switch five schools, including three in his western Wake district.

Millberg said five schools is too many to switch.

"The more schools you unconvert, the greater the risk that you'll run out of capacity and need to convert them back," Millberg said.

Both Margiotta and Millberg say they want any of the changes to be made as soon as possible for the 2009-10 school year.

"The sooner we can make the decision, the better," said Millberg, whose district includes Knightdale. "There are converted schools right now who are wondering if they'll switch back. All these people deserve a quick and final decision."

Gill, the board chairwoman, isn't sure that switching the schools back so soon would be the best choice. She said it might make sense to wait until the N.C. Supreme Court rules on the year-round lawsuit and to see whether the next bond issue passes.

"If we unconvert schools and don't get more bond money, then we'll be in worse shape," Gill said.

Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning, is expected to bring a list of schools that could be switched back Oct. 7. The board could make a decision on the issue as soon as next month.

While board members and administrators weigh the issues, parents find themselves trying to make sense of the situation.

"They shouldn't have converted in the first place," said Lynn Long, a parent at Laurel Park Elementary School, a new year-round school in Apex. "Now it's going to create a sense of inequality among people."