Wake changes school schedules to give teachers more planning time. Here’s what’s new.
The Wake County school system is changing schedules this semester to give more planning time to teachers and to try to better balance the number of in-person days that students receive.
The Wake school board voted 8-1 on Tuesday to add two to three additional “asynchronous learning days” to each school in which there will be no in-person classes or live online classes. On those days, students will work from home with assignments given ahead of time by their teachers.
“Asynchronous learning days are intended to provide teachers with appropriate time for collaborative planning,” said Drew Cook, assistant superintendent for academics. “It also allows teachers to ensure that rigorous instruction is provided for all students regardless of the format in which they are accessing that instruction.”
The board also agreed to change March 10-11 to in-person school days for traditional-calendar schools. This is meant to address how some students in Wake’s 3-cohort rotational system will have significantly fewer days of in-person classes than other students.
“There is no ideal,” said board member Jim Martin. “This is a step in the right direction to balance the cohorts.”
Karen Carter was the lone no vote, arguing that the schedule still negatively impacts students on cohort three.
The changes come as Wake students are returning to in-person classes this week following a six-week pause in face-to-face classes for K-8 students and an 11-month pause for high schools. Most students aren’t getting daily in-person classes in an effort to maintain social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The return of in-person classes poses a challenge for some teachers who are simultaneously working with students in their classroom and those who are learning from home. To help, Wake inserted asynchronous learning days in the fall semester.
Schools are also supposed to use the asynchronous learning days to provide help to students who are struggling. Superintendent Cathy Moore said that high school students have been extremely supportive of these days.
Board member Roxie Cash questioned the need for the days for K-3 students who are getting daily in-person classes. Cook explained that some K-3 teachers are working with both in-person students and children in the Virtual Academy program, which provides only online classes to those students.
New asynchronous days
New asynchronous learning days will now be added:
▪ Traditional-calendar schools: March 3, March 24 and April 28.
▪ Year-round schools: March 3, April 21 and May 1.
▪ Modified-calendar schools: March 3, April 21 and May 12.
▪ Wake STEM Early College: March 3 and April 28.
▪ Vernon Malone College and Career Academy: March 3, April 7 and April 28.
▪ North Wake College and Career Academy (all grade levels): March 3, April 7 and April 28.
▪ Leadership academies: March 3, April 7 and April 21.
▪ Knightdale High and Wake Early College: March 3, April 7 and April 28
The asynchronous days will apply to all students, regardless of whether they have in-person classes or are in the Virtual Academy.
Contract extension for superintendent
Also on Tuesday, the school board voted 8-1 to extend Superintendent Cathy Moore’s contract by a year through June 2024. Carter was the lone no vote.
Moore has been superintendent since May 2018. Her contract had been set to expire June 2023.
The contract extension doesn’t come with a raise. Her annual base salary was increased to $299,280 after a combination of a board-approved 5% superintendent’s raise in September 2019 and a 3% raise in January 2020 for all central office staff.
In October, the board modified Moore’s contract so that she would get up to two years in severance pay if she was fired without cause. This would mean she’d get up to $600,000 if she was terminated.
Wake is North Carolina’s largest school district and the 15th largest in the nation.
