Petition to save Wake County Schools' spring break gains more than 4,000 signatures
WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- More than 4,000 people have signed an online petition against Wake County School official's decision to take away a part of their spring break.
Officials said Saturday that they are forced to use a part of spring break to make up for days missed because of the winter weather. Those dates are March 23-March 25.
One woman started a petition shortly after the decision was made; citing the fact that parents and faculty alike had already made plans for spring break.
Brian Morgan is one of those signatures on that petition.
"We were going to go to the beach, but now we have to change everything because the school board can't make up their mind," Morgan said.
Morgan is more upset about losing out on quality time with his son, as are other parents.
"It's going to interrupt family time," said Brian Augustus, another Wake County father. "Family time is very important, especially after having the really bad weather, parents still having to work, kids being home from school."
"Our students have lost a huge amount of time in the past month and there just aren't any good options left for recovering that much instruction," said Superintendent Jim Merrill.
"We recognize many parents make plans for spring break," said school board Chair Christine Kushner, "but we also appreciate many more children will be right here at home and could take advantage of the only available stretch of quality instructional time left on this year's calendar."
Those who have made vacation plans said it's too late to get a refund. Parents also wonder why the school board couldn't decide to just use the three teacher workdays at the end of the year.
At a recent school board meeting to discuss make up days, Chair Kushner had described those days not as "instructionally rich," citing graduation dates already set. Those days also come after end-of-the-year testing.
The board had considered using Good Friday and two Saturdays for make-up days but after parental push back on those days, decided to use days in spring break.
This decision will affect about 100,000 students in the school system. Another 50,000 children attend schools using different calendars that do not contain traditional spring breaks.
For a list of all make-up days, click here.
