It may be possible for Wake County schools to get its state waiver without having to add in the 10 extra minutes each day into the 2011-12 school year.
The Wake school board voted tonight to tack 10 minutes to the end of the day for all schools as part of the waiver request to the State Board of Education. But Chief Academic officer Donna Hargens said that they're hoping the State Board will say the extra time isn't need to get a waiver.
Wake isn't sure how the state Board will handle requests from districts who want waivers from the new requirement that the school year be extended by five days and that 25 more instructional hours be added as well.
In the minds of Wake administrators, the best case would be that the state Board says the district could leave the bell schedule unchanged while getting the waiver.
But if the state Board says Wake needs to add the 25 additional hours if it wants to not add in the five more days, the time would be added at the end of the school day.
It differed from the original plan to start the day five minutes earlier and to end it five minutes later.
School board member Deborah Prickett had recommended tacking on the time to the end of the day because she didn't want high school students going to school any earlier. Staff said they could do it that way.
During the discussion, Hargens said they couldn't fit all four tracks in at once at some year-round schools, especially with the new school year starting in less than three weeks.
But Hargens and Supt. Tony Tata said Wake would attempt to add the five days for the 2012-13 school year. This will include revising the year-round schedule to find the days.
