The Wake County School board voted yesterday to decide which elementary schools will be converted to year round status. This has been a big controversy because there has been so much growth in the area that the schools cannot handle the growth. This year when the school doors opened in Wake County the enrollment increased over 20%!!!! As a result, the school board is proposing conversion of many of the areas schools to year round programs to maximize the number of children that can be accomodated by the school system. The 19 elementary schools that have been selected to become year round include: Ballentine, Baucom, Brassfield, Green Hope, Harris Creek, Highcroft, Hodge Road, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Leesville Road, Lockhart, Middle Creek, Olive Chapel, Pleasant Union, Rand Road, Salem, Vance, Wakefield and Willow Springs.

Those elementary schools will transition from the traditional to the year-round calendar in 2007-08. The school board also added a magnet program to Forestville Elementary in Knightdale. The school system also says that the school board "reached consensus on a number of items" and directed the county school staff to come back with a plan for making the following accommodations for Wake County families:

• Children of teachers at all year-round schools will be guaranteed placement on the same track as their parents
• Children of 12-month staff at year-round schools will be given priority of placement on the same track as their parents
• Fourth- and fifth-graders at year-round schools whose base attendance area is converted to year-round will be allowed to grandfather without transportation
• Kindergarten through third-graders at year-round schools whose base attendance area is converted to year-round will be given priority to stay on the same track Siblings will be given priority placement on the same track at year-round elementary and middle schools

On Tuesday, September 12, the board will continue discussions on possibly converting some middle schools to the year round calendar. The board will hold a public hearing regarding the middle schools at 7pm, Thursday, September 14; the location is yet to be determined.