Wake schools now won’t have classes on Election Day and Juneteenth. Here’s why.

The Wake County school board gave tentative approval Tuesday to a plan to not hold classes on Election Day and Juneteenth.

Wake school board members backed a recommendation from staff to close schools on Nov. 8 for students and school employees because many campuses will be polling places. Board members also said they’d support making June 19 a teacher workday because Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black people, is now a federal holiday.

The decision comes after some parents had lobbied for a calendar change because more than 100,000 voters could enter schools on Election Day. The Wake County Board of Elections had also requested that Election Day be made a teacher workday or at least a two-hour delayed opening.

“This is obviously not anything that we take lightly having a strict calendar law in North Carolina,” school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said Tuesday. “But hearing concerns from folks in the community about Election Day, we felt it was warranted to have this conversation.”

The official board vote will be Aug. 2. Once approved, Wake will join districts such as Durham, Johnston and Chapel Hill-Carrboro that aren’t holding classes on Election Day.

School polling sites

More than 70 Wake County schools, mostly elementary schools, serve as polling sites.

Under state law, local elections boards can demand that any state, county or municipal building — such as a public school — be used as a polling site. Elections officials need permission to use churches and privately owned facilities for polling sites.

Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Elections, has said public schools are chosen because often they’re the only suitable option in some precincts.

In 2018, Cohen said 76,760 people voted at Wake County schools during the general election.. He said three schools had more than 2,000 voters.

Cohen said the number of people voting at schools could surpass 100,000 voters this fall.

This fall’s ballot will be a long one, with U.S. Senate, Congressional, General Assembly, judicial, school board and municipal races. There will also be multiple bond issues on the ballot.

Parents want schools closed

Calls for not having classes on Election Day have risen following the latest round of mass shootings, including in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Parents have been speaking at school board meetings and contacting the district asking it not to schedule classes on Election Day. That lobbying continued at Tuesday’s board meeting.

“Us parents are already terrified to send our children to school on any given day,” Marissa Parker, a Wake parent, wrote in public comments submitted to the board meeting. “Holding voting at their school while the children are present makes it all the worse. There is no viable reason why this practice needs to persist.”

Kirstin Morrison and Jennifer McMullin presented Tuesday an online petition with more than 650 signatures urging Wake to not hold classes on Election Day. Morrison noted how 24 year-round schools will be polling sites for the July 26 run-off primary.

“Year-round students, including my son, are going to be learning literally just steps away from voters,” Morrison told the board. “While voter turnout for next week’s election is projected to be lower than the general election in November, it’s still unsettling.”

Fewer options for inclement weather

School administrators presented three options on Tuesday for not having classes on Election Day:

▪ Option 1: Move an existing teacher workday, such as Nov. 4 at traditional-calendar schools, to Nov. 8.

▪ Option 2: Move an existing vacation or trackout day, such as Nov. 23, to Nov. 8.

▪ Option 3: Use a “banked” day on Nov. 8 so the cancellation of classes doesn’t have to be made up. All schools have a cushion, called “banked time,” where it can opt not to make up to three inclement days each school year.

Glenn Carrozza, Wake’s assistant superintendent for school choice, planning and assignment, said Option 1 will cut into the LETRS “science of reading” training that the state is requiring all elementary school teachers to receive. He said this option would lead to teachers having to use more of their own time to take the training.

Carrozza said the problem with Option 2 is that it would mean holding classes on the day before Thanksgiving, which is a major travel day for families.

The board accepted Carrozza’s recommendation to use Option 3. Carrozza said this option won’t impact LETRS training but will leave schools with one fewer banked day to deal with weather emergencies.

“This protects the time set aside for teacher training,” said Superintendent Cathy Moore.

Board members complained that their options are limited because North Carolina’s school calendar law puts limits on when most schools can begin and end the school year.

“That calendar law is the gift that keeps on giving,” said Mahaffey, the board chairwoman.

Honoring Juneteenth

Carrozza told the board that they’ve also received feedback about not holding classes on Juneteenth. which gets it name from how enslaved people in Texas learned on June 19, 1865 that they were now free.

The Juneteenth change will only affect year-round schools because the traditional calendar school year will have ended by then.

Wake’s year-round schools will move the teacher workday that was planned for June 30 to June 19. An issue raised by Carrozza is that year-round schools plan to use the June 30 workday to prepare for the start of the 2023-24 school year on July 11.

But board member said it was important to recognize the significance of Juneteenth to the community. Mahaffey noted how Juneteenth is recognized as a holiday by Wake County government and by several municipalities in the county.

“I think we should recognize it, not only because it’s a federal holiday, but it’s a significant holiday for our country,” said board member Jim Martin.