School calendar fight underway in Wake County
WAKE COUNTY (WTVD) -- The Wake County school year is barely underway and already overcrowding and under-enrollment has sparked conversation of change for the 2015-2016 school year. The changes discussed could affect where children at several Wake County schools go to school. It's turning into a fight of year-round versus traditional calendar schools.
The schools affected include, Ballentine, Wakefield, Alston Elementary schools as well as Mills Park Elementary and Mills Park Middle School. Some of these schools are overcrowded, while others are under-enrolled. It's an issue the Wake County School Board addressed at its meeting Tuesday night. It's also an issue parents of students at these schools also addressed to the board.
"I just felt like I need to do everything possible to let my voice get heard," said Beth Royall, who has a first grader at Ballentine Elementary in Fuquay Varina.
That school is a four track, year-round school, with low enrollment. Wake County school staff said the school is only at 65-percent capacity. To save money there is talk of eliminating a track. The first option was to change it to a traditional school.
"The main thing for me is my son's well-being, for him, he gets exhausted at the end of nine weeks of school," said Royall, who offered options to the board if the school is so under-enrolled. "Start by removing the unused trailers at our school, or by increasing our enrollment with children that cannot get into nearby capped schools."
Another mother asked the board to consider what the impact would be for families with children at multiple schools.
"I also implore you to consider the financial impact on families for having children attending two separate schools on two separate calendars."
That issue in particular is what parents of Mills Park Elementary and Mills Park Middle School are also fighting, but on the other end. Those schools are overcrowded, traditional schools that now face going to a year-round schedule. Parents against that change held signs during the Wake County School Board meeting.
"These are tough decisions," said Wake County School Board Chair, Christine Kushner. She said balancing students and their families will be a challenge, especially with all they have to consider. "With the growth that we're having and our limited resources, this is going to be tough," she goes on to say, "we're going to have to balance it with the utilization of our schools, what our capacities are, what growth is looking like."
The board and school staff did come up with a list of recommendations for all the schools affected.
Alston Ridge Elementary, which currently operates on a single-track year-round calendar, be expanded to a full four-track year-round calendar. The current enrollment cap at Alston Ridge would be removed. Alston Ridge is currently at 111% of capacity with a disproportionate share of kindergarten and first-grade students.
Ballentine Elementary, which currently operates on a four-track year-round calendar, eliminate one track to become a three-track year-round school with the removal of four temporary classrooms. Ballentine is currently at 65% of capacity with the temporary classrooms in place.
Mills Park Elementary and Mills Park Middle, which both operate on traditional calendars, be considered for one of two options. The first option would bring temporary classrooms onto both campuses at a cost of about $1.9 million. It would take nine temporary classrooms at the elementary school and 12 at the middle school to handle expected enrollment increases. Both schools currently operate between 110% and 120% of capacity. The second option would require converting both schools to a multi-track year-round schedule, which many parents oppose.
Wakefield Elementary, which currently operates on four-track year-round calendar, be converted to a traditional calendar so it aligns with the traditional calendar used at Wakefield Middle. Wakefield Elementary is currently just below capacity and its enrollment has declined in recent years. Unused temporary classrooms can be reopened if needed.
There will be no vote in this school calendar issue Tuesday. That will come in two weeks on September 16.
Parents can comment and voice concerns here about the discussed changes at WCPSS and calendar schedules at some of the schools.
