School Board Seeks Community Input on Year-Round Conversion Criteria
On May 16, the Board of Education approved a capital improvement program that seeks to ease crowding in schools and provide classrooms for thousands of additional children moving into Wake County by 2010. The Wake County Public School System is expected to gain 7,000 new students next year, with estimates showing WCPSS gaining 40,000 students in the next five years.
The $1.056 billion school construction plan will build 11 new elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools. Additional capacity is created by converting some traditional calendar elementary schools to multi-track year-round, adding ninth-grade centers for five high schools and adding 2,000 seats at middle schools by adding mobile units or converting traditional calendar middle schools to the multi-track year-round calendar. The plan will provide major renovation projects at 13 existing schools, and minor projects such as roofing, boiler and carpet replacement at dozens of existing schools.
The decision to convert schools from the traditional to the multi-track year-round calendar in 2007-08 has been based on maximizing capacity at school facilities and strategically locating schools on both calendars to provide access for families. Schools on the multi-track year-round calendar can hold 20 to 30 percent more students than a traditional calendar school because at any given time three tracks are in school and one is on break.
The Board of Education has identified preliminary criteria to be used when developing recommendations for conversion of schools to the multi-track calendar and seeks the community’s feedback on these criteria. You may provide input two ways:
- Submit comments online
- or send written comments to:
WCPSS Growth and Planning Department
3600 Wake Forest Road
P.O. Box 28041
Raleigh, NC 27611
Comments must be received by 5 p.m., Monday, July 17. After reviewing community feedback, the school board will finalize the criteria on July 18. On August 15, staff will present a list of schools to be converted to year-round. The Board of Education is expected to give preliminary approval to the selection on August 22.