Wake may change calendars for some schools. Here are which ones.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake schools may shift calendars for 3 campuses; changes considered by 2027.
- Oakview Elementary may adopt a multi-track year-round model to ease crowding.
- Under-enrolled Raleigh schools could switch to traditional calendars due to low growth.
More Wake County schools could see calendar conversions that change schedules for students, parents and school employees.
This month, the Wake County school board’s facilities committee gave administrators permission to look at converting Oakview Elementary School in Holly Springs to a multi-track, year-round calendar.
It also gave permission for staff to look at converting two Raleigh year-round elementary schools — North Forest Pines and Pleasant Union — to a traditional calendar.
No changes would occur before the 2027-28 school year to give families and school employees time to adjust. In the meantime, the district will survey the families and staff at the three schools before making an official recommendation.
“I don’t want to start engaging families that we don’t really have any intention of making any particular changes to long-term, or at least exploring the changes,” Glenn Carrozza, assistant superintendent for school choice, planning and assignment, told board members on June 10.
History of calendar conversions in Wake
The majority of Wake’s 200 schools operate on a traditional calendar. This means a late August opening, an early June closing and a long summer vacation.
Wake also operates year-round schools in which students take short periodic breaks instead of having a long summer vacation.
In a multi-track, year-round school, the students are split into four rotating groups, called tracks, with three in session and one on break at all times. The multi-track calendar can increase a school’s capacity by 25% or more.
But multi-track, year-round schools cost more money to operate because the buildings are in use all 12 months. Wake also puts more money into multi-track schools when they’re under-enrolled to provide them enough staff and resources.
In recent years, Wake has converted schools such as Pine Hollow Middle and Rolesville Middle to a traditional calendar. Some multi-track schools like Banks Road Elementary, Middle Creek Elementary, West Lake Elementary and West Lake Middle were converted to a single-track year-round calendar where all students follow the same schedule.
Wake converted Pleasant Grove Elementary from a traditional calendar to a multi-track year calendar. This month, the school board voted to convert Lake Myra Elementary in Wendell from a single-track calendar to a multi-track calendar in 2026.
Oakview could become year-round school
Oakview Elementary is among 22 schools under an enrollment cap due to overcrowding. This means new families who move into the school’s attendance area could be sent to more distant schools that have more space.
Oakview operates on a traditional calendar. Carrozza said Oakview is under consideration for conversion to a multi-track calendar because it’s projected to be a 117% of capacity this fall.
The area around Oakview, located on Holly Springs New Hill Road, is continuing to grow and Carrozza said there aren’t nearby schools that can help relieve the crowding.
“Looking at the data, we don’t have any other alternatives to deal with the long-term crowding at the school,” he said.
Year-round schools not needed in watershed
In contrast, Carrozza told the board that North Forest Pines Elementary and Pleasant Union Elementary are under-enrolled on the multi-track, year-round calendar.
North Forest Pines is 78.4% of capacity and Pleasant Union is at 81.3% Carrozza said the district generally tries to avoid converting a multi-track school that’s above 80% capacity because it equals more than 100% on a traditional calendar.
But Carrozza said neither school has long-term crowding concerns. He said other nearby schools also have space.
“The growth just isn’t there long-term,” Carrozza said. “A lot of it is because these schools’ base attendance areas are up in the watershed, up by Falls Lake. You’re very limited with the residential growth that would be coming to that particular area.”
Both year-round schools also feed only into traditional-calendar middle schools. Families have been lobbying Wake to provide, more calendar stability so they don’t have children on different calendars
This story was originally published June 21, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
