Cary sedition

steve remchak · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:45 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Hey this is as good a time as any to ask ... I live in Cary. I have kids, one will be in Kindergarten in 2009. I am not opinionated about anything regarding the schools. Year round? Sure, I don't care. As long as Nathan goes to an elementary school fairly nearby, learns something, and comes home in one piece, I'll be more or less satisfied.

So what am I missing? I'm serious -- what are the "big issues" that could dramatically affect our family's quality of life or my son's education?

(PS while I did come up through public schools in Michigan, I am a Libertarian so I would prefer a market based solution, but I'll take whatever is cheapest right now thanks

)

probably nothing will affect your son's education Mike. unless of course the Town of Cary successfully succedes from the county system. :lol:

the arguement as i see it is whether or not year round schools are "constitutional" and when growth in any given area causes children to be moved to less populated schools.

IMO, those that are fighting a change from the traditional calendar, are those rare individuals that send Muffy to the the summer home with the Biffs and Buffies.

what it really comes down to is choice of tracks, as the desirable tracks that follow traditonal seasonal vacation periods are limited. one track out actually encompasses the entire month of december. remember RDU is one busy terminal around the holidays. still all kids get Christmas & Thanksgiving off. Spring break is not a year round holiday however. if my kid's grades are good we pull her out of school and go on vacation as we please.

year round school is nothing more than 9 weeks in and 3 weeks out.

in the modern day economy there is no reason this plan should not work for most parents. the YMCA provides track out "daycare" for track out periods.

the greatest benefit of year round school is your kids are never more than three weeks away from the curriculum. less time for them to become brain dead.

my kid had some jackass drill a tennis ball at her face recently, trust me, i understand the sensibilities of a private school. public school sucks. i'm just not convinced yet that the lessons learned in private school would not scar her in some other way. jackasses abound no matter where one happens to be.

CosbyWood · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:37 am

I have to say that I like both options. I was still in school when the year round program started around here and uterly hated the idea. Now that I'm out though, I like both ideas and don't really care which one comes out on top. Granted, summer vacations held a lot of great memories for me, but who's to say that I couldn't have had some equally great memories if I was attending year round.

Jennifer hates the year round idea, because that means that she would actually have to work all year instead of 9 to 10 months a year. Since our daughter is also in traditional, it means that she is off the same time as her so it really does work in our favor. Now if everything moves towards year round, then she will have to deal with that fact and just find the same or similar track that Caitlyn is on so she can still spend the time with her (thus saving on daycare!!)

Short version, I use to hate year round, now I don't care. :lol:

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:21 am

Our girls started year round this last year. I have to say that I love it. Like Steve said, they are never away from learning for more than 3 weeks. Eliza's retention is much better now than it was when she was on the traditional calendar.

As for picking a track, most of us here are pretty well informed and as long as you make a decision EARLY, chances are very good that you will get the track that you want. We looked at it and decided that Track 4 was the best for our girls. With that track, we get 3 weeks in April, July, October, and January. The January track out is nice because it is lead in by having the week of Christmas off. So there's 4 weeks there. We liked this track because it allows us to take a vacation in October, off peak season for Disney.

All in all, we like the year round schools. Unfortunately, we are looking to move out towards Clayton and will have to go back to the traditional calendar. But you have to take the good (bigger house, less money) with the bad (traditional schools.)

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:24 am

steve remchak wrote:

IMO, those that are fighting a change from the traditional calendar, are those rare individuals that send Muffy to the the summer home with the Biffs and Buffies.

in the modern day economy there is no reason this plan should not work for most parents. the YMCA provides track out "daycare" for track out periods.

Steve - if you meant to ruffle feathers with your comments above, it worked with me. Your points are clearly based on your personal, very limited, view of things. For the record, I live in Cary, and I'm not fighting a change from the traditional calendar but do think WCPSS has done a really half-assed, non-thought-through job of handling traditional vs. year round issues. I am dealing with a son going into middle school later this year and daughter who has 2 full years left in elementary school. Of course, they've both been in the same school on traditional calendar their entire school careers so far. Year round sounds great to me, except it doesn't work unless both my kids are in it. I'd love to transition my children to a year round track and currently have the opportunity to apply for my son to do just that as he moves into middle school. But what do I do about my daughter then? I'm a single parent who has enough difficulty juggling schedules when both my kids are on the same school schedule - it sure as hell won't work having them on significantly different schedules. Maybe your limited situation doesn't allow you to relate to that, but can you at least understand where someone like myself would have issues with being forced into complete upheaval?

Better yet, one of the magnet schools my son wants to apply to, Centennial Middle School, is on a 'Modified Traditional' calendar - it's neither Traditional nor Year Round. There are only three schools in the entire county on this schedule, and none are in the same area. WTF were they thinking with this idea? "Okay, we have Traditional and Year Round - granted, that makes family scheduling pretty difficult, but let's take it to the next level - wouldn't it be uber-cool to have a third schedule option so we can throw an even bigger wrench into the schedules of parents with multiple children?"

Also, your point about using 'daycare' to handle family scheduling problems is extremely short-sided. Although daycare clearly serves a purpose for families without a stay at home parent, it pisses me off when people throw that option around as if it were as good as families spending quality time together.

Okay, I'll get off the soapbox now.

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:31 am

Since part of my family works for the WPSS, I have seen a few things that would want me to change things as well.

1) basing some school re-assignments on subsidized lunch numbers.

2) Busing kids 3 1/2 hours for diversity (I am sure there are some demographics a lot closer).

3) Denying access to a school 500 ft from a home while granting access to others 10 miles away.

4) teachers pay scale and advancement vs 46 other states

5) NC tenure program

6) Lack of Impact fees for education in wake county

there are more I can go on about

steve remchak · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:07 am

Keith Quistorff wrote:

steve remchak wrote:

IMO, those that are fighting a change from the traditional calendar, are those rare individuals that send Muffy to the the summer home with the Biffs and Buffies.

in the modern day economy there is no reason this plan should not work for most parents. the YMCA provides track out "daycare" for track out periods.

Steve - if you meant to ruffle feathers with your comments above, it worked with me. Your points are clearly based on your personal, very limited, view of things. For the record, I live in Cary, and I'm not fighting a change from the traditional calendar but do think WCPSS has done a really half-assed, non-thought-through job of handling traditional vs. year round issues. I am dealing with a son going into middle school later this year and daughter who has 2 full years left in elementary school. Of course, they've both been in the same school on traditional calendar their entire school careers so far. Year round sounds great to me, except it doesn't work unless both my kids are in it. I'd love to transition my children to a year round track and currently have the opportunity to apply for my son to do just that as he moves into middle school. But what do I do about my daughter then? I'm a single parent who has enough difficulty juggling schedules when both my kids are on the same school schedule - it sure as hell won't work having them on significantly different schedules. Maybe your limited situation doesn't allow you to relate to that, but can you at least understand where someone like myself would have issues with being forced into complete upheaval?

Better yet, one of the magnet schools my son wants to apply to, Centennial Middle School, is on a 'Modified Traditional' calendar - it's neither Traditional nor Year Round. There are only three schools in the entire county on this schedule, and none are in the same area. WTF were they thinking with this idea? "Okay, we have Traditional and Year Round - granted, that makes family scheduling pretty difficult, but let's take it to the next level - wouldn't it be uber-cool to have a third schedule option so we can throw an even bigger wrench into the schedules of parents with multiple children?"

Also, your point about using 'daycare' to handle family scheduling problems is extremely short-sided. Although daycare clearly serves a purpose for families without a stay at home parent, it pisses me off when people throw that option around as if it were as good as families spending quality time together.

Okay, I'll get off the soapbox now.

actually Kieth i feel your particular situation with kids in different schools is the only acceptable reason to disagree with mandatory year round schools. i did touch on that point in my tirade but may have not been clear. this is not a simple fix situation and i don't know what can be done to eliminate it from happening.

i don't feel daycare should take the place of family time. year round schools offer flexibility thru out the calendar year for vacation time other than June 15th thru August 31st as we are all accustomed to.

very few people these days have 10 weeks of vacation time so the kids have to go somewhere. as we are self employed, my daughter spends a majority of track out time with me unless i have appointments. summer is usually our busiest time and therefore vacations are hard to come by May thru August here.

i won't say Wake county is doing a stellar job of managing our school system, however, i feel the year round issue has less to do with management and more to do with utilizing the resources already in place. one overlooked result of year round schools is the removal of "trailer classrooms" from several year round locations.

and yes i agree "modified traditional" is a moronic idea. however i think its roots are based in having more time for teachers to concentrate on core subjects with kids who would benefit from such attention. Partnership Elementary is set up in this manner.

maybe the "keep traditional schools" side should hire better spokespeople as the excuse that year round schools harm family time has never been explained to my satisfaction.

sorry Kieth, i still don't like Cary.

David Spratte · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:14 am

Marty Howard wrote:

6) Lack of Impact fees for education in wake county

there are more I can go on about

That's the only one you really needed.

Disclaimer: No kids and one of my clients is a developer, but not in Wake.

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:22 am

steve remchak wrote:

i won't say Wake county is doing a stellar job of managing our school system, however, i feel the year round issue has less to do with management and more to do with utilizing the resources already in place. one overlooked result of year round schools is the removal of "trailer classrooms" from several year round locations.

You may want to check to see how many of those trailers have actually been removed. At last check the majority are still sitting in the same place, being heated and maintaned, but not being utilized. They are being kept in the same locations becasue they are expected to be filled by 2010.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

I think I have made my mind up. I'm going to Home-garage School them. It will be just like the movie House of Rock but all the classes will be about cars and at the end they'll go racing and win a trophy instead of getting a diploma.

Here are some courses on the curriculum. Yeah, it'll be a year-round school, I will always have something I need the little rugrats to work on.

Basic Pain Delivery - Hand Tools 101
Advanced Pain Delivery - Electric and Air tools 201
First Aid Training 301
Troubleshooting POS British Electrical Systems 202
Intro to Electrical Fire Insurance Fraud Techniques 302
Graduate course - How to Spend Other People's Money 402

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:07 pm

steve remchak wrote:

actually Kieth i feel your particular situation with kids in different schools is the only acceptable reason to disagree with mandatory year round schools. i did touch on that point in my tirade but may have not been clear. this is not a simple fix situation and i don't know what can be done to eliminate it from happening.

But isn't the 'household w/multiple kids on different schedules' the cause of greatest resistance, by far, from the people resisting forced year round schools? Your opinion, as stated below, certainly sounds like someone that's downplaying the issue to a ridiculous degree -

steve remchak wrote:

IMO, those that are fighting a change from the traditional calendar, are those rare individuals that send Muffy to the the summer home with the Biffs and Buffies.

.
.
.
.

steve remchak wrote:

i don't feel daycare should take the place of family time. year round schools offer flexibility thru out the calendar year for vacation time other than June 15th thru August 31st as we are all accustomed to.

Sure, but only for people who have all their children on the same schedule. Your comments are sounding like you have only one child in school - if so, you should really be more careful about making blanket statements about large groups of people based on your very limited view of the situation.

steve remchak wrote:

maybe the "keep traditional schools" side should hire better spokespeople as the excuse that year round schools harm family time has never been explained to my satisfaction..

Or maybe the 'transition to year round schools' side should hire better people to make it happen without making it impossible for families with multiple children in public schools?

steve remchak wrote:

sorry Kieth, i still don't like Cary

Ouch! I hope that was unintentional, your statement practically defines prejudice ("an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics"). How can you say you dislike an entire town - that's over 100,000 people - in one fell swoop? Are you aware that Cary has been repeatedly voted one of the best / safest places to live in the US?

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:13 pm

Keith Quistorff wrote:

steve remchak wrote:

sorry Kieth, i still don't like Cary

Ouch! I hope that was unintentional, your statement practically defines prejudice ("an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics"). How can you say you dislike an entire town - that's over 100,000 people - in one fell swoop? Are you aware that Cary has been repeatedly voted one of the best / safest places to live in the US?

I don't like Cary either.

I always get lost :oops:

steve remchak · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:26 pm

Keith Quistorff wrote:

steve remchak wrote:

actually Kieth i feel your particular situation with kids in different schools is the only acceptable reason to disagree with mandatory year round schools. i did touch on that point in my tirade but may have not been clear. this is not a simple fix situation and i don't know what can be done to eliminate it from happening.

But isn't the 'household w/multiple kids on different schedules' the cause of greatest resistance, by far, from the people resisting forced year round schools? Your opinion, as stated below, certainly sounds like someone that's downplaying the issue to a ridiculous degree -

steve remchak wrote:

IMO, those that are fighting a change from the traditional calendar, are those rare individuals that send Muffy to the the summer home with the Biffs and Buffies.

.
.
.
.

steve remchak wrote:

i don't feel daycare should take the place of family time. year round schools offer flexibility thru out the calendar year for vacation time other than June 15th thru August 31st as we are all accustomed to.

Sure, but only for people who have all their children on the same schedule. Your comments are sounding like you have only one child in school - if so, you should really be more careful about making blanket statements about large groups of people based on your very limited view of the situation.

steve remchak wrote:

maybe the "keep traditional schools" side should hire better spokespeople as the excuse that year round schools harm family time has never been explained to my satisfaction..

Or maybe the 'transition to year round schools' side should hire better people to make it happen without making it impossible for families with multiple children in public schools?

steve remchak wrote:

sorry Kieth, i still don't like Cary

Ouch! I hope that was unintentional, your statement practically defines prejudice ("an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics"). How can you say you dislike an entire town - that's over 100,000 people - in one fell swoop? Are you aware that Cary has been repeatedly voted one of the best / safest places to live in the US?

well Keith we might as well discuss religion or politics here. if i have offended you i apologize. while my opinions may be narrow minded they are mine. they are based on my observations and conversations with various employees of the system. overwhelmingly i believe most parents and administrators are in favor of year round schools. could it be managed better? of course. should The Town of Cary seriously consider succeding from the school system? no. are there wacky parents out there that would suggest Cary attempt such an action? apparently so.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:53 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

I think I have made my mind up. I'm going to Home-garage School them. It will be just like the movie House of Rock but all the classes will be about cars and at the end they'll go racing and win a trophy instead of getting a diploma.

Here are some courses on the curriculum. Yeah, it'll be a year-round school, I will always have something I need the little rugrats to work on.

Basic Pain Delivery - Hand Tools 101
Advanced Pain Delivery - Electric and Air tools 201
First Aid Training 301
Troubleshooting POS British Electrical Systems 202
Intro to Electrical Fire Insurance Fraud Techniques 302
Graduate course - How to Spend Other People's Money 402

Can I sign up for this school. I know I haven't been school aged for quite some time, but these courses sound fun. Especially "Intro to Elecrical Fire Insurance Fraud Techniques 302." That class sounds riveting. Ooo, Mike, there's another class for you to add to the cirriculum, Advanced Riveting Techniques 401.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:04 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

Graduate course - How to Spend Other People's Money 402

I hear the professor of this class is REALLY good

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:46 pm

You guys are aware that this isn't a new concept. Chapel-hill schools do this today and they are better (rest of orange county worse) for it. WCPSS has shown poor management again and again. Why should cary or any other town have to be subjected to that any longer? .... and most people who know me know I don't even like Cary.

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