Ending the school year

Voluntary year round had been a popular program for the WCPSS. Families who wanted the schedule applied in numbers in excess of the seats made available. Applications were often denied because the applicants failed to meet the diversity criteria that would ensure the schools would not become nondiverse.

Multitrack mandatory year round emerged because the BOE was faced with either putting forth a bond request sufficient to fund needed construction or find a way to cram more students into existing space. If they could force students into a year round schools they could continue the diversity policy while housing more students at existing schools. However, they were challenged in their efforts and unable to compel assignment of students to the year rounds. (Decision pending in the courts).

Now they face a quandry. If they are unable to compel attendance in year round and many F&R families opt out (as has happened) they risk diversity objectives. They are left to justify why traditional calendar schools must endure overcrowded schools, with higher F&R numbers while year round schools operate at higher costs without full utilization. They can't simply fill the seats to fully utilize the year rounds because to do so would be to contradict their diversity policy.

While Rosa Gill has no year rounds in her district she is aware of the trends emerging and the conflicts those present with goals of the BOE. Money is needed to build schools and a bond will be needed to fund that construction, but her suggestion that if it is a big enough bond they might undo the year round conversions is tough to trust. She had the opportunity to be part of supporting a larger bond to fund construction and opted instead for the safer option of lowballing the bond and exercising powers of assignment they did not dream would be challenged, and thus the conversions.

Those who support the BOE's decision to convert schools to multitrack mandatory year round cannot fairly dismiss parents who protest the conversion because it prevents them from having time together as a family. High schools are not year round and the needs of families with students on varying schedules are real. Supporters of the conversions should not cheer the statements of Chuck Dulaney that say it is his goal to make traditional options "unappealing", they should stand with the parents challenged by the schedule disparity and say these students should not be punished by unappealing options.

The leading reason for the conversions was to save money on school construction. Time will tell whether the net impact was cost savings, claiming them is not the same as proving them. At the end of this first year we see schools collapsing tracks (a threat to cost effectiveness), threats to the diversity goals, hundreds of requests for class size waivers to allow larger classes and reports of PTA's struggling for volunteers and funding as compared to previous years. We are also hearing about track disparities within the schools with some students on some tracks receiving services others on other tracks do not. Time will tell whether the experiment worked.

Issues to watch moving forward include diversity, cost, teacher retention, track equity and facilities equity (as all new schools are year round with time the haves and have nots of newer facilities). Some have argued the BOE should have simply converted all the elementary and middle schools to year round, and to be honest if they intentionally seek to make opting out undesirable they should have.

Having a break every 9 weeks doesnt work when you have a traditional student too. Our summer vacation doesnt work well, especially with a high school student in fall sports. My oldest cannot miss tryouts or he wont make the team, but his tryouts are the same time my youngest is tracked out. We have no common weeks off to spend as a family... oh but were just a bunch a spoiled rich Apex people who complain, everyone lucky enough to have traditional doesnt get why we complain?? Sadly in 2 years our oldest will go to college and move away, and our children will have no fond family memories of their final summers together. We can no longer vacation with our cousins from MD, they have traditional schools, and our schedules don't match. Our youngest struggles to retain what was learned after each track out, and hates the adjustment back into school. The youngest gets very upset when big brother has off and she has to get up for school. Our lives were turned upside down, but we shouldn't be upset? Oh and BTW I have not met one person in Apex who actually likes year round, except the people who got yanked out of Turner Creek, they wanted it, so they liked it, but that was when we all had a choice! Everyone else is unhappy, even the teachers.

The worst thing about all of this is the tude. The unresponsiveness of the BOE to parents' concerns has eroded trust. I see WCPSS as an enemy much more so now than ever before. I sat at OCE graduation and felt impatient, irritated, patronized and oppressed. NOT the way a Mommy should feel at the end of elementary school. That being said about half of the 5th grade families I talked to will be continuing in YR in order to keep schedules aligned so the forced conversion has developed more demand for voluntary YR middle school. Dr. Cris

I am preparing to leave a lovely vacation on the caribbean island of St. John. While chatting with the locals they looked at me like "You are some crazy white woman" when I asked if their children were on year round calendars.

Here the weather is consistent all year and the planting season really doesn't vary much and these children get summer off.

Rosa is trolling for votes using any means she can muster for a bond....don't believe her, the bait is tainted. Hook me once fisherwomen shame on you, hook me twice, shame on me.....

Lately talking with parents randomly in the community several have expressed strong support for the year round conversions. The following are the key points that they have made:
1. Year round is better than the tax increases that would be needed to pay for more schools on a traditional calendar.
2. Year round schools tend to have lower F&R populations.
3. If x school had not gone year round we might have been assigned to y school that is not as good so we would rather have x school on year round than go to y school.
4. Many parents benefit from school as daycare and the year round schedule is more like the schedule adults work.
5. A couple said they had applied for year round years ago and been denied so they were glad that their base school was converted.

Just posting some of the topics that have emerged not expressing an opinion on them.

My Sixth Grader on Track 2 has been watching movies in school for the past two weeks. Push 'em, test 'em (as guinea pigs) and then show movies for the last two weeks. So this is EDUCATION in WCPSS.

And with a week off, I'm sure these kids will be refreshed to come back as Seventh Graders and do it all over again. What a crock.

Ms Gill we have lost to your game too many times. Parents don't like being "gamed".

Re-convert the schools and you MIGHT get more bond money. But you go first this time. You have allot of convincing to do.

well said gunfam, we were FORCED into dealing with and trying MYR and it simply SUCKS! Families, friends and the entire neighborhood split, no summer rest for kids or parents, MUCH less support for the schools from parents, do you blame them, continued lies about the TRUE FACTS of how much more it's costing to operate and transport and THEY WANT MORE MONEY???

NOT HAPPENING ON MY WATCH ROSA!!!!!!!!!

Everyone has to cut back ESPECIALLY when you have NO CLUE how to manage what's around you! And this boe has NO CLUE!!!

So, NO BOND!!!!!

NONE!!!

Yea, pass the bond and we'll talk about it. How many fell for that in '06? Remember, not only did they refuse to talk about it, they also altered the 2006 CIP and removed 2 new schools from the building plan. Even if "unconversions" are included in the next bond, they can change it. Don't fall for it!

What I wanted was a larger bond LAST time, to avoid this whole fiasco...but I didn't have that choice! NOW she wants a big enough bond!! Gee thanks...but I don't think so. I HATE feeling this way, I truly support more funding for education (I'm tired of sending in tissues and cleaning wipes), but I don't believe in the way BOE is dealing with all this.

Oh, and to all those who said "try YR you'll love it"...I tried it (under duress of course) and I DON'T love it! Are we managing, yes, but my neighborhood is spilt on all tracks, there's not as much support, AND my kids have ONE WEEK between grades....very weird I tell you.

Bribery cases shine light on some oily characters