The WakeEd blog is devoted to discussing and answering questions about the major issues facing the Wake County school system. How much will the new Democratic majority on the school board do to undo the changes made by Republicans since 2009? Will the new student assignment plan be a hybrid of the last two models or primarily be a return to the use of busing for diversity? Who will replace Tony Tata as the new superintendent of the state's largest district? How will voters react to a likely request in 2013 to borrow potentially more than $1 billion to build and renovate schools?
WakeEd is maintained by The News & Observer's Wake schools reporter, T. Keung Hui. While Keung posts information and analysis on the issues, keep us posted on your suggestions, questions, tips and what you're doing to cope with the changes in Wake's schools.
Wake is closing school on Wednesday "due to anticipated hazardous road conditions."
Traditional-calendar students will lose April 6, the first day of spring break.
Year-round students will have class on April 4, another Saturday.
Modified-calendar students will have class on March 10.
Wake Early College students will go to school on May 26.
Comments
Report Card work day
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 23:38 — mommy59Conidering that the finals will not be done by Monday the logic behind that the teachers need work a work day for report cards doesn't make sense!Think about it.
ack, the traditional make-up
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 22:32 — AngelaWack, the traditional make-up days are full days? really?
Why the diff?
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 22:26 — SideburnsSo, why are MYR make-up days only 1/2 day and traditional calendar make-ups are full days? I realize MYR make-ups are on the weekend and it's a lot to ask for a full weekend day. But, what are they teaching on that 1/2 day if a tradt'l calendar needs a full day?
they reduce what they teach
Wed, 01/21/2009 - 20:20 — CaryCurmudgeonthey reduce what they teach the traditional calendar children on makeup days by 50% so that all schools will be equal (WCPSS's #1 priority).
Just a number
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 20:46 — g88ky07We have plans for April 4th, so unfortunately we won't be able to make it, but thanks for the invite Chuck!
Hope at least 42 show up at each school for you to cover the overhead!
Or not!!
Protected Teacher Workday
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 20:25 — JSCWhat does THAT mean? Why can some TWD's be changed and some can't? It makes more sense to put a make up day on some random Monday or Thursday than during Spring Break.
Under state law, work days
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 21:50 — KeungHui (author)Under state law, work days have to be scheduled after the end of quarters for teachers to be able to work on grading for report cards. Those days can't be used to make up for snow days.
Mr Hui - Question on the law
Wed, 01/21/2009 - 12:20 — Voice_of_Reason_Does the law prevent re-scheduling those days to a Saturday due to a snow day? It would be a whole lot less inconvenient to everyone. The teachers would lose a Saturday either way.
Just wondering.
Click here to view the law.
Wed, 01/21/2009 - 13:45 — KeungHui (author)Click here to view the law. You can't schedule a work day for a Saturday because state law limits the school year calendar to 215 days. This includes instructional days, holidays, etc. Telling teachers to come in on Saturday for the work day so that you could use a protected workday for classes would be like adding a 216th day to the work year.
While it is true that the
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:44 — trinitymWhile it is true that the makeup day is technically the first day of Spring Break for traditional calendar students, for most families, it is actually the third day of break (Saturday, Sunday, Monday). Many families, including ours, have already made plans for the week that include leaving over the weekend. My guess is that schools will be quite empty that day. The teacher workday on the 13th seems to make more sense to take, but I know that it is too late to make a calendar change. It is my opinion that snowday makeup needs to be revisted legislatively and within the school system. In most places in the north, snowdays are not made up unless they pass a certain mark (usually 5-7 days). Given that this is a legislative change here in NC, I doubt this will happen, but it really puts school systems in a bind. As here, there are plenty of potential makeup days built into the calendar without having to take away a treasured vacation time, but they are all built into the early part of the year which is already passed before the weather gets typically inclement. When 2 days are off, then, in January or February (when they are most likely to happen for snow), there is no way to avoid taking Spring Break. This part is a school system calendar issue rather than a legislative issue.
Mr Hui, Question
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 19:09 — Voice_of_Reason_This is from WCPSS's website, what does the second statement mean?:
School is out tomorrow.
Tue, 01/20/2009 - 21:47 — KeungHui (author)School is out tomorrow. They just hadn't updated the site when you looked then.