And that’s really sad.

I’d say we should try to find a way for all teachers to have “permanent” classrooms, but that’s not really a solution, now, either.

I guess we all just need to get really good at doing what we can with what we’re given.

I think the core problem with Wake County is that parents refuse to listen to the truth, for many of the reasons you listed. People resist change, and a lot times even refuse to at least listen to the possibility that change might be a good thing.

I think you’re absolutely right about taxes, too – I’ve always argued with people who don’t want to pay more taxes… where do they think our paychecks come from? Essentially, every time somebody says “I hate paying taxes” they’re telling me “I hate paying your salary.” The fact that systems need the money to build new schools and parents keep refusing to pay more (or even suggest where else we might get the money) makes it all the more frustrating.

Especially when you add in the fact that Wake County has been considering getting local businesses to build them schools (since they can usually do it faster), and then leasing them 30 years or so – and parents are fighting that, too.

To the parents who refuse to compromise: You moved to Wake County, you had kids… take some fucking responsibility and stop acting like spoiled children.

Many year-round schedules aren’t actually 9 months on, 3 weeks off; most that I know of in NC actually have the 3 weeks broken down into 1 week in the middle of the quarter and 2 weeks at the end, or some variation of that. Personally, I’d think that would be a better schedule for students and teachers, especially to prevent burnout and for students of low-SES. There are plenty of studies that show that students who don’t have many resources outside of school drop off in every area of their education during the summer so that they start each fall with a deficit that students with resources don’t experience.

I personally think the entire Wake Co. issue is ridiculous. First, the schedule wouldn’t be nearly the problem parents are making it out to be, since companies that use a school calendar to determine their business would just cater to whatever the school calendar is. Frankly, my opinion is that the reason parents don’t want year-round schools is b/c middle class parents see school as what got them to be as successful as they are and they think if you change the school from what they knew, somehow their kids won’t get the same benefit from education. That’s one of the reasons that most educational initiatives fail–not because they aren’t useful and beneficial for students and teachers, but because middle class parents think that if the status quo school was okay for them, it’s best for their kids. I don’t think that Wake Co.’s plan is going to work, not because year-round school doesn’t work, but because even with year-round schools, they need more schools and they don’t have them because the same parents who complain about year-round schedules won’t pass tax raises to fund more schools.

The only good argument I’ve ever heard against year-round teaching is that teachers need the whole summer off so they can supplement their income with a summer job. After all, even though the schedule is supposed to free up money to pay teachers, that’s never what money actually gets used for in real school systems.