Every school year-round?

Wake proposes sweeping change to pare amount of bond issue

RALEIGH -- To keep construction costs down, Wake County school administrators Thursday proposed putting every school on some form of year-round calendar. Their proposal would radically alter the lives of many families.

Administrators presented the proposal Thursday to the school board as part of a plan to spend $994 million on facilities through 2010 -- the first time this year administrators have gotten the building plan under $1 billion. That would mean a lower amount for a bond referendum in November.

But it would mean lopping off a chunk of summer vacation for more than 100,000 of Wake's 120,504 students and creating potential scheduling complications for parents with more than one child. All students would start the school year in July.

Fifty-nine nonmagnet elementary schools would be converted to a multitrack, year-round calendar, which can handle more students.

The other 14 elementary schools, as well as all 18 high schools and 24 middle schools that aren't currently on a multitrack schedule, would be converted to a new single-track, year-round calendar. Single-track schools don't house more students but would provide more common days off for families with younger students in multitrack schools.

"I'm not happy with what I'm talking about today," said Don Haydon, associate superintendent for auxiliary services, who helped come up with the plan. "None of us are, but it is a smaller price tag."

Under the plan, the traditional calendar would die in Wake, making it unique among large districts nationwide. All of the calendar changes would begin in 2007.

The breadth of the plan caught school board members by surprise even though district leaders have talked about a year-round switch for more than a decade.

"I didn't expect to see this," said Carol Parker, vice chairwoman of the school board. "We'll see if this is what the public wants."

Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning, said the proposal had to be made -- not as a ploy to generate political support for more money but to keep up with growth and to avoid further conflict between parents of children in traditional schools and those whose children attend year-rounds.

"Not converting the schools won't solve our problems. It will create a system of haves and have-nots," Dulaney said.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the plan May 16 before sending it to the county commissioners, who will decide whether to put a bond issue on the ballot.

The year-round proposal runs counter to a state law that went into effect last summer, requiring school districts to start no earlier than Aug. 25. It was pushed by the tourism industry and parents. But the law exempts year-round schools.

Diane Poag, an owner of Capt. Bill's Waterfront Restaurant in Morehead City, said a calendar change could hurt her, since Wake is the state's second-largest school system.

"It will have an impact on us all along the North Carolina coast," said Poag.

Louise Lee, a North Raleigh mother and president of Save Our Summers, a group that pushed for the calendar law, said Wake school leaders need to consider the experience of other communities with year-round schools.

"The facts alone should convince leaders that this is not a good route to take," Lee said.

Year-round schools, she said, haven't proved to provide an academic benefit and can be more costly than traditional schools because of maintenance and utilities. Year-round schedules also can make it tougher to attract and retain teachers, she said, and can disrupt families.