RALEIGH – The Wake County school board has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday to discuss the ramifications of a court order that blocks it from sending children to year-round schools over parents’ objections.

The school board is expected to discuss how the order will impact Wake’s process for assigning students to year-round schools for the upcoming school year. The meeting will be at noon in the board room at 3600 Wake Forest Road in Raleigh.

The special meeting will include a closed-door discussion with the board’s attorney, Ann Majestic. But the board is expected to reconvene in open session to announce what changes it will make to comply with the new order.

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court blocked a Court of Appeals ruling that eliminated the need for parental consent to send children to year-round and modified-calendar schools. The previous ruling cannot take effect until the high court decides whether to review the case.

As a result, Wake will have to get consent from more families, which school leaders say will make it harder to avoid overcrowding.

"This creates more turmoil for parents in Wake County and the school system," Majestic said. "We will cope as best we can."

Critics say the order is a victory for parental rights.

Because of the Supreme Court's intervention, school administrators will likely have to contact families that don't return consent forms, which are due June 1, to see whether they want their children to attend a year-round school. This is an about-face for school leaders: They had previously decided that a failure to return the forms would be the same as giving consent for year-round assignments.

The school system will likely have to continue to seek consent of families who move into Wake. After the appellate decision May 6, the school board had decided to not seek consent from families who move to Wake after June 1.

"If we have to follow the law, we'll follow the law," said Rosa Gill, chairwoman of the school board.

The district says year-round schools accommodate more children, helping the county deal with runaway growth. Wake's decision last year to convert 22 schools to the year-round calendar and to open all new elementary and middle schools on that basis prompted Wake CARES, a parent group, to sue.

The school district's plans were thrown into doubt in May 2007 by Howard Manning Jr., a Wake County Superior Court judge, who required parents' permission. More than 90 percent of parents gave consent, but still, many year-round schools had empty seats and several traditional-calendar schools became overcrowded.

On May 6, a three-judge appellate panel unanimously reversed Manning's decision.

School leaders have warned that they're seeking consent this year only because of the late date of the appellate decision.

Robert Hunter, the attorney for Wake CARES, Wednesday asked for a temporary stay and for the Supreme Court to hear the group's appeal. According to court officials, the earliest the Supreme Court could decide to grant the motion to hear the case is June 11.

School board member Lori Millberg warned that the Supreme Court's decision will hurt traditional and year-round schools.

"Unfortunately what it means is that we're certainly in jeopardy of having some traditional schools very overcrowded and those year-round schools will not be full," Millberg said. "They will have some empty spaces."

Kathleen Brennan, a co-founder of Wake CARES, praised the Supreme Court's decision. She said she's hopeful that the court will hear the group's appeal.

"We think it's a good sign that they gave this stay and we're hopeful they will take a closer look," Brennan said, "But whatever the court rules, we feel the school board should be concerned with the wishes of thousand of families who say they cannot make it work."

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