School or vacation this summer?

School. Wake County School Board members voted Tuesday to move ahead with year-round schooling after a State Supreme Court decision giving the school system the authority to assign students to year-round schools.

Students who have already applied for and by accepted by traditional schools will be allowed to attend those.

More than 2,500 students have opted out of year round calendar schools for the current calendar year. About half of those students applied in February to remain on the traditional schedule for the 2009-10 school year.  Students who did not complete an application will be assigned to their base year-round school, but can apply for a transfer beginning May 15.

For the past two years, the school system has offered parents the choice to opt-out of year-round assignments to send their children to a traditional calendar school. School administrators say the opt-out plan has resulted in numerous under-enrolled year-round schools, several of which have had to shut down at least one of their four tracks, or schedules.

The Supreme Court's decision ended a two-year battle with a parent group that argued for parent choice in school calendars. Multi-track year-round schools were introduced as part of the magnet schools program in Wake County in the 1990s.

Click on the video link above to hear more on the school board's decision.

Click here to go to the WCPSS website for more information on the transfer process.