Wake has changed its school makeup days, and some parents and teachers aren’t happy
The Wake County school system is changing when some students make up lost class time due to the recent snow storm and is warning that all options, including extending the school day, are on the table if winter brings more school closings.
Between hurricanes and the early December snow, the Wake County school system has already closed for seven days of classes and winter hasn’t officially arrived yet. Amid all the weather uncertainty, school officials announced Friday that they’re canceling the Saturday, March 16, makeup day for year-round schools and instead will have year-round students spend a full day at school on Jan. 18 instead of being sent home 2.5 hours early as originally scheduled.
At Wake’s multi-track year-round schools, students are split into four groups, or tracks, on alternating schedules with three in class and one on break at all times.
This week’s snow storm meant tracks 2, 3 and 4 missed time while track 1 was off on its break. Using Jan. 18 means track 4 won’t have to make up Tuesday’s snow day while track 1 will now have to make up time it didn’t miss.
“This does not make sense,” tweeted Jennifer Walters, a track 1 parent. “My child should not have to make up a day he did not miss. Figure something else out.”
Some parents and teachers are especially upset because the same thing happened to track 1 when Wake converted the Oct. 19 early release day to a full day to help replace time lost to Hurricane Florence.
“Track 1 will have made up track 4’s missed instructional time for them twice this year,” tweeted Erica Speaks, a track 1 one teacher at Pine Hollow Middle School in Raleigh. “That doesn’t seem to prioritize equity in instructional time for all.”
Wake explained that the latest change was made because the Jan. 18 teacher workday for traditional-calendar schools is now being used as a weather makeup day. School officials say that it would be a problem for school buses to serve both year-round schools on an early release schedule and traditional-calender schools on a normal schedule.
“While this decision does not create a perfect balance among all year-round schedules, it increases instructional time for a large majority of schools, helps accommodate high school exam schedules and meets our transportation needs to keep all buses on the same schedule,” the school district said online.
Some track 1 parents tweeted that instead of using Jan. 18 that Wake should make the Friday, Dec. 21, early release day — when their children are out — into a into full day. But Friday is also an early release day for Wake’s other schools so those parents would likely balk at losing the half day scheduled on the day before winter break.
In the ensuing back-and-forth exchange with track 1 parents and teachers on Friday and Saturday, Wake tweeted that track 1 was affected by the unusual timing of the school closings this year but that it could be a different track next school year.
“We’ll never be able to keep all tracks on equal time, because we can’t control when the weather hits and how much we get,” Wake tweeted Saturday.
The constant refrain from Wake’s Twitter account on Saturday is that the district has to leave all its options open to deal with the possibility of a week or more of school closings this winter.
“Winter isn’t over,” Wake tweeted Saturday. “We will likely have to continue to make up time or extend the school day due to additional winter weather. “
Here are the remaining weather makeup days from the September hurricane days and December snow days:
▪ Traditional-Calendar Schools: Jan. 18 and Feb. 19
▪ Modified-Calendar Schools: Dec. 17-18
▪ Wake Young Men’s and Women’s Leadership Academies: Dec. 20 and Jan. 2
▪ Wake STEM Early College: Jan. 3-4
▪ Vernon Malone Career and College Academy, Wake Early College of Health Sciences, North Wake College and Career Academy: Jan. 2-3
▪ Year-round schools track 1, 2 and 3: Jan. 18 (now a full day)
▪ Year-round schools track 4: No makeup days required
▪ Barwell Road Elementary and Walnut Creek Elementary: Dec. 20-21 and Jan. 25.
▪ Carroll Middle, East Garner Middle, East Millbrook Middle: Dec. 21, Feb. 15 and Feb. 19
▪ Fox Road Elementary: Feb. 15, Feb. 19 and March 8
This story was originally published December 15, 2018 at 1:35 PM.
