Ok, fine, so they don't want their kids in year-round school. so pull them out and put them in private school. yes, i understand they can't afford private school so they need to quit their bitching. the school system is doing everything they can to accommadate the rapid growth. but here's the big thing i dont understand. Why are the parents who are against the year-round schedule not going to vote for the school bond? do they not understand that this only hurts themselves?? do they really think that they'll "show them" by not voting for the school bond? seems like a bunch of self-centered idiots if you ask me.

10/3/2006 9:30:39 AM

bunch of self-centered idiots

10/3/2006 9:33:39 AM

just checkin'.

10/3/2006 9:35:18 AM

Wait, they're refusing to vote for the school bond as a protest against year round schools?

...year round schools because there aren't enough schools right now...bond creates schools...SAY NO TO THE BOND

10/3/2006 9:37:40 AM

exactly

10/3/2006 9:40:03 AM

When keeping it real...goes wrong

10/3/2006 9:41:02 AM

I'm sure these yuppies want the county to cut some of its medicaid services so that they can hire more teachers instead of building new schools. Besides, only poor minorities use medicaid.

10/3/2006 9:45:56 AM

the bond just lets city planners not do shit and get away with it, we need to stop this trend of using bonds to fix poor planning

10/3/2006 9:45:58 AM

i really like the year-round school schedule. i mean, they're still going to school for 180 days, the same as the traditional calendar. there is just more breaks, longer time off for holidays and the kids don't get dumb during the summer.

10/3/2006 9:49:11 AM

If by planners you mean developers, yes. They are supposed to collect impact fees are there has been some legislation in some cities that makes developers pass a litmus test as to whether there are enough services in the area to meet the needs of new citizens. The problem is that the cities don't want to pass on the property taxes of rich white people just because the county can't handle the school situation.

10/3/2006 9:49:24 AM

Quote :

"i really like the year-round school schedule. i mean, they're still going to school for 180 days, the same as the traditional calendar. there is just more breaks, longer time off for holidays and the kids don't get dumb during the summer."

The main problem, I think, is that it forces parents to pay for more expensive "year-round" camps/daycare during the odd breaks in the middle of the fall/spring/winter.

10/3/2006 9:50:40 AM

my elementary school in Blowing Rock did a year-round experiement in the early 90s when i was in 6th and 7th grade. It was completely optional - they ran both a traditional calendar and a year-round calendar out of the same school at the same time, but of course all the classes were held seperately (or most of them, maybe not stuff like gym). anyway, it was fully optional - if you wanted to stay in the traditional calendar, basically nothing changed for you or your kid. just some of his classmates were on a different calendar (my brother and i did the year round for 2 years - it was veyr nice).

anyway - you wouldn't believe the shitstorm of anger towards the school from some parents. It was crazy - people were pulling their kids out, moving across town to get into another district, complaining to the newspapers, blah blah blah. all they had to do was stay in the same calendar and nothing would have changed.... just people scared of change and not thinking rationally i guess

10/3/2006 9:52:35 AM

the county planners knew this would happen, and instead of doing something about it they just counted on taxpayers to bail them out... again

10/3/2006 10:03:16 AM

Quote :

"The main problem, I think, is that it forces parents to pay for more expensive "year-round" camps/daycare during the odd breaks in the middle of the fall/spring/winter."

And if you have more than one kid and they get on schedules where the vacation times do not overlap you can pretty much count out vacations. It's all poor planning. So there are more people in the county - that should also mean you were collecting more taxes from those people - taxes that should have gone toward new schools instead of whatever pork barrel crap it eventually went to.

BTW I thought the lottery was supposed to save us

10/3/2006 10:13:24 AM

when keeping it sub-urban goes wrong

10/3/2006 10:18:10 AM

My freshman year of high school I was able to transfer from Southeast Raleigh to Athens Drive by simply sending in a letter stating that I didn't want to be in a rear round school anymore.

That was before this craziness.

Unfortunately, I don't see another viable solution as there are just too many damn people moving to this area.

Not suprisingly there has been a huge increase in home-school groups from parents pulling their kids out of traditional schools(sometimes even at the 6th grade to beyond level).

10/3/2006 10:22:14 AM

Quote :

"a rear round school anymore"

Flat bottom schools FTW

10/3/2006 10:27:47 AM

Link plz.

10/3/2006 10:40:08 AM

http://www.wral.com/news/9988727/detail.html

10/3/2006 10:57:24 AM

I really think with all the energy and time spent by some of these parents to try to get what they want out of public schools whether it is year-round propositions or school reassignment, they could work doing something useful and then have the money to send their kids to a private school where they would get a better education anyway.

In terms of switching to year-round, the people that really get screwed are the teachers. They no longer have long summer breaks during which they can hold down a reasonable side job to offset a low salary. Plus if they have kids, they are having to either move them to year round from whatever school and friends they were used to, or pay out the ass for childcare.

10/3/2006 12:46:28 PM

Quote :

"They no longer have long summer breaks during which they can hold down a reasonable side job to offset a low salary. "

Average NC teacher makes $48,000 a year and should be in the mid 50's within the next couple years... I have no sympathy.

10/3/2006 12:52:13 PM

No, actually, being a year-round teacher is quite ideal if you are a teacher with kids in the same track as you. Tough shit to the kids... make new friends.

10/3/2006 12:52:57 PM

Quote :

"No, actually, being a year-round teacher is quite ideal if you are a teacher with kids in the same track as you. Tough shit to the kids... make new friends. siblings?"

10/3/2006 12:55:47 PM

My parents and the family I sit for love year round school. I think it'd suck to have my kids hanging around for two weeks every six weeks. I mean, if you work what the hell are you supposed to do with them?

10/3/2006 12:56:39 PM

voting 'no' is likely just shooting themselves in the foot if they are opposed to year round schools. The reason for year round schools is to accommodate more students...and if we want to be able to accommodate more students without using year round schools then we need to provide more funds for the county to fund other methods for accommodating students (such as building new schools or more classrooms). This could have been avoided if the school board and Wake County Board of Commissioners hadn't been so myopic in accommodating for the population boom years ago.

Voting down the bond plan is just forcing their hand more towards year-round schools as they will have to accommodate all the new students somehow and year round schools will be the likely path they take.

Here is a list of items the bond plan is supposed to fund:
The 2007-09 Schools Building Program: $1.056 billion:

$970 million in general obligation school construction bonds
$86 million in cash from the county's budget

What We'll Get:

17 new schools (11 elementary, 4 middle, 2 high)
13 comprehensive renovation projects
Aversboro Elementary
Bugg Elementary
Lacy Elementary
Lynn Road Elementary
Poe Elementary
Root Elementary
Smith Elementary
Wilburn Elementary
East Millbrook Middle
Martin Middle
Cary High
East Wake High

Repairs and maintenance projects such as reroofing, and boiler and carpet replacements at nearly 100 other schools.
Five-year technology replacement and upgrade program.
Funding for land and startup design of 13 future schools (7 elementary, 4 middle, 2 high).

Notice the number of new schools on the list. The money has to come from somewhere. I personally would like to see more funds coming from new development...as that is what is causing a lot of the influx of students. And of course, we taxpayers are going to have to pay the price for the Wake County Board of Commissioners' fuckup.

Now, some developers have offered the school board land to build schools adjacent to new developments IF the new neighborhoods would be assigned to those schools. The school board has said no, because of their diversity policies.

Clearly, some new schools are needed, but due to the cyclical nature of generations, just building more and more schools to meet the current boom is just as short sighted as what was already done (nothing). Year round schools offer the flexibility to deal with cyclical population bursts with the least amount of taxpayer burden.

The only (realistic) way to ensure that everyone who wants traditional school gets traditional is to build schools at a near non-stop pace. You can, with enough money, reach the point of equilibrium where all are happy. Then the local population of school age children will slowly wane and, assuming that some parents of these children do not move out of their houses, you will end up with not enough kids to fill the schools that have been built and they will be closed. This will put some kids back on buses (when they used to be able to walk to school) and taxpayers will still have to pay for the land that is now unused.




Ok, i didn't realize I wrote so much until after I posted. [/blog]

10/3/2006 1:01:32 PM

Quote :

"Average NC teacher makes $48,000 a year and should be in the mid 50's within the next couple years"

just curious, what's the starting salary?

10/3/2006 1:21:21 PM

If is public knowledge as to what Wake County teachers make http://www.wcpss.net/salary-schedules/teachers/. The teachers making 48K have been teaching since the WWII, unless they have a masters. Teachers got an 8% raise this year and make get the same next year. My wife will just start making ~36-39K next year after she finishes her masters. The starting salary depends on the number of years experience you have in the area of teaching you want to go into. If you have been a CPA for 5 years and want to get teach accounting in high school then you will be bumped to the 5 year level, so the wife tells me.

10/3/2006 1:36:28 PM

Anyone who protests year-round schools better have a cash crop that needs harvesting.

10/3/2006 1:49:17 PM

The shit will hit the fan before ITB goes year round.

10/3/2006 1:52:08 PM

Quote :

"The only (realistic) way to ensure that everyone who wants traditional school gets traditional is to build schools at a near non-stop pace. You can, with enough money, reach the point of equilibrium where all are happy. Then the local population of school age children will slowly wane and, assuming that some parents of these children do not move out of their houses, you will end up with not enough kids to fill the schools that have been built and they will be closed."

The first part is pretty much what has happened to Charlotte. My younger brother is currently attending the same middle school as I was but I'm not sure what they are going to do with him in high school. I dunno about your second point ... it depends on the long-term growth of the city/surrounding area.

Btw, what is the reasoning for year-round schools? I'm neither for or against it, but I'm corious as to why they would want to do a major conversion ... not something that typically happens out of the blue.

10/3/2006 2:15:53 PM

You can service more students with the same facilities and staff.

10/3/2006 2:29:59 PM

solution: stop having kids

10/3/2006 2:35:23 PM

^ how quaint, a European!

10/3/2006 2:37:50 PM

the reasoning is mostly ^^^, also teachers don't have to spend as much time reviewing at the beginning of the year.

10/3/2006 2:56:03 PM

It's mostly to use the same building and yet have 33% more students.

10/3/2006 2:59:02 PM

As a public school teacher, we're honestly running out of space. It's fine and dandy to hire more of us, but where are they going to teach their classes? The space just isn't there. We need more schools built...that's one of the best solutions.

msb2ncsu...I will not get on a soapbox about this, but do yourself a favor and hush. We can debate the teacher salary issue all day if you'd like.

10/3/2006 3:11:41 PM

It looks like year-round is our only option. I mean, we could have stopped development and said, "Look, Yankees, you can work in RTP, but you can't stay here..." but then we wouldn't have all the big, fancy malls and shit...oh wait...

10/3/2006 3:19:08 PM

fancy malls... leading high-tech corridor in the nation world... I guess that's the same thing

[Edited on October 3, 2006 at 3:39 PM. Reason : .]

10/3/2006 3:39:39 PM

Quote :

"You can service more students with the sam facilities and staff."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_round_school

I'm assuming Wake is going to use multi-track scheme referred to here?

10/3/2006 3:51:34 PM

maybe the govt to fund more schools and less military war efforts... that would be nice

maybe that way schools could accomodate the growth as you say, without going year round

just a thought

[Edited on October 3, 2006 at 3:54 PM. Reason : ]

10/3/2006 3:54:13 PM

Wake already has a year-round scheme for the magnet schools that are year round, so I'd assume yes.

10/3/2006 3:55:37 PM

"It's mostly to use the same building and yet have 33% more students."

I'm not doubting that statement is correct, but I'm curious as to how changing the calender suddenly allows 33% more students....

10/3/2006 3:55:39 PM

when i was younger i use to be against year round schools

now in my old age i see that its probably better

10/3/2006 3:56:33 PM

I want to go up their protests and be like STFU NOOBS.

10/3/2006 3:57:06 PM

^^^
You have three classrooms and four classes of students. The trick is that every three weeks a fourth of the students are on a 3 week break. Currently you have four classrooms and they all go on break at the same time.

[Edited on October 3, 2006 at 4:04 PM. Reason : .]

10/3/2006 3:57:45 PM

New schools are very important. Otherwise you end up with teachers floating from room to room for each class (like me). It's a fact that floaters have lower EOC scores (I'll be an exception, of course ). It's very difficult to run a classroom out of a cart.

Btw, teachers in NC start at about 28k. Wake (the highest paying county in NC) gives their teachers a suppliment that brings the total starting salary to 32k.

10/3/2006 4:06:57 PM

These parents that protest are probably the same parents that lead me to have the opinion that teachers will never get paid enough. For the amount of patience you must display ever day, not for the the children you teach, but the parents, you couldn't pay me enough. From stories I have heard, not just telling every one of them, yes your kid is an idiot, and no the apple didn't fall far from the tree, would take every ounce of energy I have. Bottom line, there is no free lunch. If you want your kid to have their education be just as you'd like, you have to pay. Either in taxes and bonds, private school tuition, or lost wages because of homeschooling.

10/3/2006 5:00:07 PM

^

10/3/2006 5:10:12 PM

Quote :

"You have three classrooms and four classes of students. The trick is that every three weeks a fourth of the students are on a 3 week break. Currently you have four classrooms and they all go on break at the same time"

So that means if you have 2 or more kids, they likely wouldn't have vacations at the same time? Sucks for vacations, trips, etc. Does going to year-round automatically mean they'll go to this rotating schedule? Because I was confused about how you can suddenly teach more kids by just changing it, too.

10/3/2006 5:12:30 PM

are teachers getting paid the same for 3 months more of work?

10/3/2006 5:15:11 PM