A: Both calendars shorten the summer vacation by including regular breaks of one to three weeks during the school year.

In a multitrack school, students are divided into four groups, or "tracks," with three tracks in class at all times. This calendar puts the school in constant use, increasing the number of students the school can teach by as much as 33 percent.

In a single-track school, all students follow the same schedule, so there's no capacity gain. The point for Wake is to create breaks that are more similar to those of a multitrack school, so families with children in both types of schools can plan better.

The summer vacation for single-track schools would be about seven weeks, as opposed to 10 weeks for traditional schools. It can be as short as 10 days for some multitrack students.

Go to the National Association for Year-Round Education at www.nayre.org for more information on year-round calendars.

Q: Why did school administrators recommend converting 59 elementary schools to the multitrack calendar?

A: They say they can handle 7,000 more students that way. Such a widespread conversion of elementary schools also would reduce student reassignment and eliminate the need for six new elementary schools, saving about $150 million, administrators say. Over the next 25 years, they say, using multitrack elementary schools would cut construction costs by more than $1 billion.

Q: Why wouldn't any middle schools be converted to the multitrack calendar?

A: Middle schools are organized into four-teacher teams with each educator certified to teach language arts, social studies, mathematics or science. A school would need 1,248 students to maintain one team per track per grade level. Administrators say it would be hard to reach that number -- with the same number of kids at each grade level -- resulting in the need for two-teacher teams. But it's hard finding teachers certified in more than one subject area. School leaders fear that teaching quality and academic achievement would suffer.

Q: Why wouldn't any high schools be converted to the multitrack calendar?

A: Administrators say it would be much more expensive to hire enough teachers to offer students on all four tracks the same courses -- additional operating costs would outweigh the construction savings after about 10 years. The district could decide not to offer the same courses to students on all of the tracks, but administrators say that wouldn't be equitable.

Q: How can I voice my opinion?

A: You can contact your school board member directly:

LORI MILLBERG, DISTRICT 1 (NORTHEAST WAKE), 850-8865 or lmillberg@wcpss.net;

HORACE TART, DISTRICT 2 (SOUTHEAST WAKE), 850-8866 or htart@wcpss.net;

CAROL PARKER, DISTRICT 3 (NORTH RALEIGH), 850-8867 or coparker@wcpss.net;

ROSA GILL, DISTRICT 4 (EAST RALEIGH), 850-8868 or rgill@wcpss.net;

SUSAN PARRY, DISTRICT 5 (S. CENTRAL RALEIGH), 850-8869 or skparry@wcpss.net;

BEVERLEY CLARK, DISTRICT 6 (CENTRAL RALEIGH), 850-8870 or bsclark@wcpss.net;

PATTI HEAD, DISTRICT 7 (WEST RALEIGH, MORRISVILLE), 850-8871 or prhead@wcpss.net;

RON MARGIOTTA, DISTRICT 8 (SOUTHERN WAKE), 850-8872 or rmargiotta@wcpss.net;

ELEANOR GOETTEE, DISTRICT 9 (WESTERN WAKE), 850-8873 or egoettee@wcpss.net.

You can also use the school district's board contact page at www.wcpss.net/Board/contact/ or attend any board meeting at 4 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of each month in the administration building at 3600 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh.