Eleanor Goettee Responds

I support the prospect of making year round schools the "default option" in Wake County. In my opinion, year round schools are the most palatable option for addressing student growth in the short term - not that they are the only option we must employ. Research shows us that year round schools are educationally sound and that is a huge factor for me. These schools still provide for at least three weeks of a break at some point during the summer months so there is indeed time for families to have vacation time together. I do believe that should we need to move to mandatory year round schools - which would be a last resort in my opinion but could happen if we are not able to come up with more appropriate options soon - there should be a process in place that allows parents the right to be heard if their schedule simply does not work with the year round configuration. The one thing I am committed to is to be sure to offer parents continued options for year round schools as their children move to middle school and then high school. I would like to think we could synchronize schedules of the year round tracks to allow an elementary student in one school and his sister in a middle school to have one or two weeks of common break time in the summer.

I disagree with the argument that there will be difficulty in making arrangements for child care during the "track out" period. Our private enterprise system works pretty well and I suggest a demand in the market would generate plenty of quality child care options.