Get ready for November school disruptions, Wake parents. Many days off are coming.
Wake County families need to prepare for a series of days off from school and an early release day over the next week.
Students at traditional-calendar schools will have three weekdays off and an early release day between Friday and Veterans Day. Students at Wake’s other schools will have two weekdays off from school and an early release day next week.
The schedule disruptions are a result of a combination of state law, a desire to not have students on campus on Election Day and efforts to provide time for teachers to enter grades and receive training time.
The upcoming schedule disruptions come on top of how students will have three days off from classes during the week of Thanksgiving.
The majority of Wake’s 160,000 students attend traditional-calendar schools. They won’t have classes on Friday because it’s a teacher workday timed to coincide with the end of the first quarter of classes. Teachers will use the day to enter grades for report cards.
Election Day concerns
Tuesday will be a day off for all of Wake’s students after the school board voted in August to not have classes on Election Day.
The Election Day change came after some parents had argued that it was unsafe to have students on campus when thousands of people will be voting. More than 70 Wake County schools, mostly elementary schools, will serve as polling sites.
The school board will vote on a similar proposal on Nov. 16 to make Election Day in November 2023 a teacher workday.
Teacher training
Next Thursday, Nov, 10, will be a districtwide early release day where students go home two hours early. This will help provide time for elementary school teachers to receive training in the LETRS science of reading literacy program.
Wake built six early release days into this school year’s calendar to help teachers get in some of the 160 hours of state-mandated training over the next two years.
Several of the early college high schools have Nov. 10 as a teacher workday so students are off the entire day instead of only being dismissed early.
Teachers at middle schools and high schools will use Nov. 10 to receive other training.
Next Friday, Nov. 11, is a day off for all students because of a state law requiring schools to be closed on Veterans Day.
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 11:21 AM.
