To Fear or Not to Fear:Will Year Round Schools Work in Cary?

Should the Year round School be feared? This is the question that is plaguing many citizens of Wake County as it appears that more schools may be converted to year round. Which type promotes the best educational advantage for our children? What reasons, if any, should a school system decide to implement year round schooling? These are just a few of the tough questions that are plaguing many citizens of Raleigh, Cary and surrounding Wake County. It will be only with a true discussion of the many options for our educational system in Wake County where these and other questions will be answered. It does not take an expert in public education to carry a discussion on these topics, just someone with an open-mind and the resources to find the answers.

Year round schools should not be feared as it does not affect the overall purpose of the public school system. The mission of Wake County Public School System remains the same: The Wake County Public School System will educate each student to be a responsible and productive citizen who can effectively manage future challenges. Furthermore, the goal has not changed to have 95 percent of students in grades 3 through 12 will be at or above grade level as measured by the State of North Carolina End-of-Grade or Course tests, and all student groups will demonstrate high growth. With the ultimate goal and missions of the school system being unchanged, the calendar in itself, should not give us cause to fear.

Some arguments for Year round schools are as follows:

· Students tend to forget a lot during the summer, and shorter vacations might increase retention rates.

· Schools that are not being used in the summer are inefficient.

· Short breaks can provide time for students to receive enrichment education.

· Remediation can occur when it is most needed during the school year.

· Students get bored during the long break of summer.

· It’s easier to schedule vacations because not everyone wants to travel at the same time.

· Other countries around the world use this system.

· More students can be accommodated at one school through multi-tracking.

Where these arguments seem to be very logical, the other side of the proverbial aisle has their own list of arguments against Year round education. They are:

· Studies have been inconclusive to its academic benefits.

· Students are going to forget information whether they are out of school for three weeks or 10. Therefore, teachers will be performing four beginning of the year reviews instead of just one.

· Summer programs such as youth camps suffer.

· Student summer employment will be virtually impossible.

· Many schools are older and do not have air conditioning.

· Band and other extracurricular programs could be hurt because of problems scheduling out of school practices and competitions.

· If the entire school district does not go year round, parents could have students at different schools on different schedules.

· With multi-tracking, parents could have students at the same school on different schedules.

The question remains, which type promotes the best educational advantage? It has been argued both ways that one is better than the other for educational advantages for the children. However, there are not conclusive studies that show Year around Schools or the traditional school calendar is better for the students as a whole. All of the arguments are simply surface comments on both sides of this divisive issue. Year round school may be better for some students where others will fare better with the traditional schedule. However, it is impossible to please everyone by giving each student exactly what is optimal for each, individual student. It has been shown that children are very resilient and can easily adapt to their environment. Thus, whether or not a student is pre-disposed to a specific type of school calendar, then can learn to adapt and yes, thrive in a different environment than what they would normally prefer. Additionally, it is a great personal skill to be able to adapt to ones surroundings.

If there is not any measurable educational advantage to change to a year round schedule, what would be a good reason to do so? The only true advantage to this change is to ease overcrowding of the school system. If a school system, such as Wake County, is experiencing exceptional growth, then a year round schedule would be advisable. Of course, many parents will want to fight it, but isn’t change inevitable? With a multi-track design, the students are separated into 4 groups. During any 12 week period, students will spend 9-weeks in school and 3-weeks of vacation. At any time, only 3 of the 4 groups will actually be in the classroom. This allows for the enrollment in existing schools to increase by as much as one-third, or the class size can be decreased by the same amount. This will ease overcrowding in the schools and free up money for new construction.

In conclusion, there are not any easy answers to the overcrowding schools that Wake County is currently experiencing. Parents will remain divided on this issue no matter how it ends. But, let us remember the important part of this picture, the children. They deserve us to work together to come to a better agreement on this issue. For the parents with more than one child in a year round school, the school system should make sure that all of their children are on the same track. Parents should have an option to choose the track for their children to better assist the parents in scheduling vacations and summer camps. And always remember, our concern should not be about the school schedule, it should be about how well the school system is educating our children. Let us focus our efforts in better educating our children and less on when they go to school.