Wake CARES cares only about themselves.
They represent a privileged minority who is probably more concerned about changing their Summer vacation plans
Their actions are short sighted and have caused tremendous stress to most of the families.
In my opinion, placing the blame squarely on the School Board is not justified.
Although converting schools to year-round is not appealing to most parents,
it is the best the School Board can do with the exploding population growth.
They are playing the proverbial catch up game years after the County has given permits to build 1000s'of homes.
I want to know...
What are the County Commissioners thinking, when they give permits to build more and more homes
and expanding Cary into all corners of Wake County?
Why dont they better plan for Infrastructure, schools, roads etc. before these new sub divisions come up?
Why do the Realtors sell the image of BEST schools in the country when it is not the truth?
It is high time the School System is divided into smaller School Districts
that can better serve the community.
wake cares
It would be refreshing to read a critic of Wake Cares that actually had an informed opinion about year-round versus traditional schools, but alas it does not seem to be. Considering how many people who write and rant about how proponents of traditional calendar schools are concerned about their vacations it is amazing how many of them seem to mention their own vacation deposits.
No, the problems with year-round schools is a lot more serious than just missed vacations. It is a problem of learning environment and what is best for the children. To, just quickly dispel another myth that seems to be floating around out there about traditional calendar schools being tied to agricultural traditions, yes, that might have been the original reason but just because we no longer need free child labor is no reason for abonding summer vacation.
I wish all the people out there making these decisions would, in stead of employing economists and accountants, would seek the advice of child psychologists and developmental specialists. Go to any of the universities around here there are many journal in the field. In Europe, where child welfare goes before profit, and they actually know the meaning of family values (not just some trite republican faximile of the word) it is widely recognized among specialists that children need at least 6 weeks of continuing vacation for the child to fully recuperate from a year of school. A year where the school day, including pre-school and after-school programs cannot exceed 9 hours and no more than four days a week until the child is 10 years old. This is because a child, and people, elementary school students are still children, need rest and play as well as edcucation.
Year round schools have been tried and failed in several states, including Texas, Arizona, and California. The conversion back to traditional calendars were due to several things, but mostly too high expenditures and lowered academic standards. Year-round schools have to operate during the most expensive time of the year (warmest - i.e, electricity, most do not have systems that can handle running during the hottest time of the year and will require substantial overhaul), increased wear and tear, increased salaries to achieve teacher retention, just to name a few. The most disturbing trend though is that, though some districts see no difference academically, a lot see a downward trend. This comes from increased time reviewing material, noise and dust etc. from maintenance that now has to occur during school sessions something that also creates big problems for children with any kind of allergies, asthma, etc., absences are up - partly due to the aforementioned problem, but also children just to not get enough time to unwind and as a result more adjustment problems are seen.
All this and I haven't even mentioned how it would affect those families with children on different schedules, those with families such as cousins in different states that they can no longer get to see because they are in school at different times, kids that only option for track out was to go to the local pool because that was free, kids that cannot afford to go to camp for weeks on end for track out, even if there were any offered during their track-out schedule. So now tell me we are a spoiled minority that are concerned about our vacations on the beach. Please get educated and give a little thought to how this will affect your children.