Wake County students attending traditional-calendar schools will be going to classes in trailers and storage rooms and eating lunch at odd hours to accommodate an exodus from year-round schedules.

All over Wake County, parents and students may be shocked by the pinch of overcrowding when customary classes start Monday.

"The majority of parents don't realize how big a change it will be," said Alice Spickard, PTA president at Douglas Elementary School in North Raleigh. "But we're going to feel it coming."

School district projections show that more than three-quarters of the district's 56 traditional-calendar elementary schools will be at or over capacity this school year. That number includes 11 schools which are projected to go from having empty seats last year to being overstuffed this year because they will get students who opted out of the district's year-round schools. The elementary schools that were on a traditional calendar last year are projected to be at 106.3 percent of capacity this fall compared to 101.6 percent capacity last year.

While traditional calendar schools will have more students than the campuses have space for, nearly all the district's year-round schools have extra room. A dozen year-round schools, in addition to those that opened last month, have 20 percent or more of their seats open.

"It's frustrating to say that I uprooted my daughter to go to a new school when she left behind one that turned out to be half-empty," said parent Alison Backhouse.

Backhouse's daughter, Sophie, left Olive Chapel Elementary School, one of those that converted to a year-round calendar, because her son is at a traditional-calendar middle school. Her daughter is enrolled at Penny Road Elementary School, which is on a traditional calendar.

More crowding was not the back-to-school result the district's leaders envisioned when they proposed converting 22 schools to a year-round calendar for the 2007-08 school year. The goal of the conversions was to increase the number of students at year-round schools to help keep up with up with growth that's expected to add 8,000 students.

Year-round schools can hold more students than traditional schools because the buildings are in constant use.

Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning, said Wednesday that the reassignment plan, which was adopted in February, sought to reduce the number of elementary schools running at more than 95 percent of capacity.

The district sets a school's capacity by tallying the space for students in all classrooms and trailers throughout the campus.

In May, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. ruled that the school district couldn't force students to attend year-round schools. Although more than 90 percent of year-round students stayed, Dulaney said it was difficult finding seats for the 2,500 or so students who left because of the ruling.

School officials say complying with the judge's order, which the district has appealed, has created a variety of problems. In addition to increasing overcrowding at traditional-calendar schools, it has created uncertainty about how well bus service will run when schools open Monday.

"This is what happens when your 'Plan A' goes away," said school board member Eleanor Goettee. "This is not anything we would have planned. Traditional-calendar schools are going to bear the brunt of it."

Wake set up an additional 130 mobile classrooms at traditional-calendar schools to help with crowding this school year.

Throughout the district, parents will notice other changes.

At Wildwood Forest Elementary School in North Raleigh, students will begin eating lunch at 10:40 a.m. Schools typically don't start lunch until 11 a.m. The school will also get programs to serve English as a Second Language students and low-income students.

"It's not going to be the Wildwood Forest we've known and loved," said Carrie MItchell, PTA vice president at Wildwood Forest. "It could be better at Wildwood, but I just don't know."

At Brooks Elementary School in North Raleigh, principal Felecia Locklear said that after the school year starts, she'll have to redistribute her fourth-graders to form a new class. She also said she's been telling parents to be patient with carpooling and parking issues with all the additional students.

"Once the parents come and go and the kids are in the classroom, we'll be fine," Locklear said.

Third-graders at Douglas Elementary School will be joining fifth-graders who were already set to be in trailers, said Principal Susan Spivey.

At Holly Ridge Elementary School in Holly Springs, Principal Pam Peters said the teachers' lounge will be used for special-education classes.

School board member Carol Parker said she wants the board to discuss on Sept. 6 what guidelines should be used for capping enrollment at schools that become too crowded. When a school is capped, students are sent to another school that has more space.

"This is the situation we're in now, and we'll have to live with it," Parker said.