Some Hard Truths for folks thinking of moving to Cary: (budget, maintenance)

[lamishra]

Originally Posted by Esperanza27713

I do remember area schools having class on Saturdays after one of our major weather events. I don't remember if it was Hurricane Fran (1995), the Big Snow (2000) followed by other smaller snows, or the Ice Storm (2002), but one of those events caused so many off days that there was a make up day or two on Saturdays.

And if you were around for any of those events, you realize those were exceptional times.

They might have done that during Fran. I was here but my kids were not in school at the time, so I might have missed it. I don't think they did it during the ice storm though, my kids were defintely in school by then. I went through WCPSS for all 13 years and don't think I ever had to go to a class on Saturday or a holiday.

[findingmesomeday]

In our school district in MA, they build 5 days into the calendar for snow days. That means that every time school is cancelled because of snow (a rare event--they bring those kids to school in just about anything!), the school year is extended one day into that 5 day period. Once beyond that period, then they have to talk about either adding hours to the school day, cutting vacation days or Saturday school. The contract with the teacher's union only takes those five days into consideration.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by SarahMom

Someone said to me recently "we've been robbed in our livingrooms!" That's certainly how it feels from my vantage point.

I see at the bottom of our new Year Round calendar that the BOE also reserves the right to conduct school on Saturdays and on the vacations 'in case schools must be closed'. What is THAT? No one has talked about closing schools. Is that just a scare tactic?

Legally the state requires students attend 180 days here. The districts are mandated by the state. If the school had to close for weather etc they might need to conduct school on Saturdays to meet the 180 days.

I grew up in Eastern NC and we had a freak snow storm in early March... we had 5 foot snow drifts! Given this was over 25 years ago. But we were out of school for a long time .... over a week at least. So we did 1/2 days on Saturday to make up some of those extra days. Since we rarely saw snow and never this much it was totally worth it to us kids.

[Anjana]

Hello!!! You seem to have grudges with the school system in Wake county not Cary as a place to live. Cary and most parts of Wake county has a very peaceful and clean lifestyle, as compared with any town in the NE.
I think you will find that NC has one of the better school systems in the nation and bussing has been a ongong practice specially in in North East for many years, just new to this area.
And if you want your children to celebrate holidays together then send them to school on a year round schedule if possible . You are already going to to be doing this with one child any way, why not both?
If you are really that unhappy with Cary, then try to buy the same house with the same dollars in a similar place in NY or Philly or MD or even De. and see what you get. I think you will find Cary and Wake county to be a great value in all areas including Housing, Schools, and Job market, as compared to most NE towns.

[Francois]

Back when I was going to school (in the day of the dinosaur, haha) in Johnston Co., I know we had a few Sat. school days that I'm pretty sure Wake Co. had as well. In my opinion, they were SUCH a waste because we never HAD actual classes on those days. We watched cartoons and movies all day.

I remember a couple in March, 1979 when we had several big snows in a row during the week. The weirdest thing was the teachers giving assignments and saying "OK, now on Saturday, we'll be going over X..." We did have actual school days, not "watching cartoons" and such, and we had been out for snow SO long that we actually (IIRC) didn't really seem to care, and were glad to make it up then instead of cutting into the summer.

[bleuwaterz]

I have read the information posted and I just wanted to know are there any other areas around Raleigh that don't engage in reassignment of students? Is it only Wake County? What's the next best county for my child to attend school?

[lamishra]

It's only Wake County that reassigns based for DIVERSITY purposes. Other counties may reassign due to growth/filling new schools, it's just not as frequent.
The next best county as a whole would probably by Johnston. Chapel Hill schools are consistently ranked very high and many Durham schools are excellent.
It just depends where you want to live if you're not in Wake.
Where will you be working?

[Miai]

WHAT? I have never heard of such a disruptive policy regarding the education of our children. I have lived in NY state, MA, and IL....this has never been policy in any of the school districts I have lived in. What a mess, and worse what a disservice to our children and their education. Stability and a sense of security does matter. Where I live, the school is tied to geographic boundaries...yes due to population increases, new school construction, etc there has been some boundary changes, but always for entire neighborhoods and not an annual occurence. Looks like I may be considering private education as well. Maybe that is one of the reason taxes are so much less expensive in Wake county than Dupage county, IL...where schools have received national awards for excellence. NC seems like such a wonderful place to live, yet I am now learning of this issue which would directly effect our family.

[WorkingMomof2]

Originally Posted by Miai

WHAT? I have never heard of such a disruptive policy regarding the education of our children. I have lived in NY state, MA, and IL....this has never been policy in any of the school districts I have lived in. What a mess, and worse what a disservice to our children and their education. Stability and a sense of security does matter. Where I live, the school is tied to geographic boundaries...yes due to population increases, new school construction, etc there has been some boundary changes, but always for entire neighborhoods and not an annual occurence. Looks like I may be considering private education as well. Maybe that is one of the reason taxes are so much less expensive in Wake county than Dupage county, IL...where schools have received national awards for excellence. NC seems like such a wonderful place to live, yet I am now learning of this issue which would directly effect our family.

It's not annual for the same group of kids here either. So yes, there are annual reassignments. But the same schools/children are not affected annually. It's a big school district.

[Yarc Ecstasy]

My Kids will be reassigned from one school to another almost every year in beautiful Cary, NC
Stability in my kids education is paramount to me, I will never move here
I don't care about stability in my kids education, I will move here for the weather
I can afford to put all my kids in private school so school reassignment is not an issue for me, I will move here
These issues have made me think twice about moving to Cary NC. I am unsure of moving to Cary NC.



It seems that the original statement and all the choices offered for answers are skewed one way. I do not see any options for people that like the public school system and the town. Wouldn't it have been better to have positive, neutral and negative choices, for an accurate poll?