Wake approves 6 early release days for schools next year

The school board has discouraged the use of early release days in recent years but approved the change to help teachers complete the training and avoid using nights and weekends to do it.

Board members were concerned about the logistical challenges of adding the early release days, but they approved adding them with a 7-1 vote. Board Member Karen Carter voted against adding the days, and Board Member Heather Scott was absent.

Wake County Public School System officials will work with groups in the community to help families secure after-school care during the early release days.

The district is using only eight unique days for early release, with some variation between calendars.

The early release days are two hours each, spread across the school year.

The North Carolina General Assembly is requiring all public schools to conduct two years of training on reading instruction for K-5 teachers totaling 137.5 to 168 total estimated hours of work, or the equivalent of 17 to 21 eight-hour workdays.

While the training will last two years, the district is not eyeing adding more early release days in the following school year.

The requirement has been a headache for many teachers across North Carolina, who have taken on more responsibilities during the pandemic and have other professional development requirements, as well. Some teachers in the state have reported having to do their training on weekends.

Wake school leaders are estimating K-5 teachers and relevant administrators will need to do at least 48 hours of training during the next school year and more the year after that, potentially requiring more early release days that year, too. Teachers of other subjects, such as at middle and high schools, would use those extra hours from early release days to complete other professional development.