See which 4 Wake year-round schools will change calendars for the 2022-23 school year
Updated with the Wake County school board approving the calendar conversions on Feb. 1.
Four under-enrolled Wake County year-round schools will change schedules this year — affecting when hundreds of students will return to classes this summer.
Banks Road Elementary, Middle Creek Elementary, West Lake Elementary and West Lake Middle all currently operate on a multi-track year-round school calendar in which students are split into four tracks, or groups, with their own schedules.
On Jan. 18, Wake County school administrators recommended switching Middle Creek and the West Lake schools to a track 4 year-round calendar where all students follow the same schedule. Families on tracks 1, 2 and 3 that expected to start the next school year on July 7 will now begin on July 29.
But school board member Jim Martin, whose district includes the West Lake schools, said there’s strong parental support for the change. In a parental survey, 65% of West Lake parents supported the change to track 4, with 26% opposed.
“This is a sound recommendation that I believe very much has the majority support of the schools,” Martin said.
On Feb. 1, board member Monika Johnson-Hostler asked that Banks Road Elementary be added to the conversion list after saying families had asked her to lobby for the change.
The board approved the calendar changes on Feb. 1 to go into effect for the 2022-23 school year. Roxie Cash was the lone no vote due to the last-minute inclusion of Banks Road.
To provide families stability, staff will wait three years to review whether to change their calendar again.
Some year-round schools not full
Multi-track schools originally started in Wake as a way to increase school capacity at a time of rapid growth. Splitting a school into four groups with three in session at all times can increase capacity by, theoretically, as much as 33%.
But growth has slowed and the district is losing students now.
Not having enough students at a multi-track year-round school can make it difficult to provide enough teachers and programs.
School administrators developed a tool with three steps to determine whether to move a multi-track school to track 4.
▪ Is the school at 75% or less of capacity?
▪ Will there be a need for additional seats based on the district’s school building program and long-range projections?
▪ Can the feeder schools put siblings on track 4 to match the calendar of the school converting?
The West Lake schools and Middle Creek met all three criteria. Banks Road is at 79% of capacity and hadn’t initially been recommended for conversion by staff.
Three schools: Rolesville Middle, Adams Elementary and Willow Springs Elementary were also considered for conversion to track 4. But they were dropped for now because they didn’t meet one or more of the conversion criteria. They will be monitored for potential change in the future.
This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 7:30 AM with the headline "See which 4 Wake year-round schools will change calendars for the 2022-23 school year."
