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Wayne students to make up Memorial Day
By Sarah A. Wise
NL Staff Writer
8 May 2008 — Putting a debate about the observance of Memorial Day in Wayne County Schools to rest, the school board voted to make a late change to this year’s school calendar, allowing students a day off for the holiday and scheduling a make-up day for Saturday, May 31.
Earlier this semester, parents who noticed that Memorial Day had been scheduled as a regular school day began contacting county offices to express their concern. A group of parents got together to voice a disbelief that Wayne County Schools would fail to observe the holiday. They felt that, especially in a military town like Goldsboro, the school system should honor the holiday that celebrates military service.
Last week, the school board announced that it had revisited the issue amidst parent concerns. Working within the state-mandated limitations for a school schedule, a committee recommended that the board amend the schedule to have a non-day (or no school) on May 26 and schedule a make-up day on May 31.
In anticipation of a vote by the school board on the issue, several parents spoke at Monday night’s meeting.
Randy Foye, a parent at Tommy’s Road Elementary, stated that he understood the predicament the school board was faced with. He said he understood that it was a difficult issue, being stuck between a schedule that had already been decided and the issue of honoring local servicemen on Memorial Day.
“I’m not being unpatriotic, but I feel we should leave the calendar as it is for this year,” he said. “If there was contention, people should have brought it up when the calendar was released last year.”
He added that he thought the board should set an example of honoring their word and stick to the original calendar instead of making students attend school on Saturday.
A C.B. Aycock parent, Sherry McAllister, also spoke to the board. She said she didn’t understand how Memorial Day had been overlooked initially. She added that Saturday school would interfere not only with parent’s work schedules, but those of many high school students as well.
Mrs. McAllister said the problem was bringing down student morale and teacher morale, and she feared it could impact student performance on end of year exams. She also said she felt it could affect teachers considering the school system.
“If you have school on Saturday, it will be a wasted day,” she said. “You’re wasting taxpayer money, and teaching students not to honor their word.”
She asked the school board to consider applying to the state for a one-day waiver.
The final parent to speak was Stacey Dulan, whose children attend Meadow Lane Elementary. She began by telling the board she was a part of the parent group that first brought up the issue. She said she and the group had begun the campaign before Easter break, because they felt that the sacrifices of local military members and their families deserved to be honored.
However, she said she and the group didn’t intend for such a massive schedule change to ensue.
“If the board had just admitted they were wrong and told us they’d fix it next year, I would have been happy with that,” Mrs. Dulan said. “I never expected students to be punished with school on Saturday.”
Later in the meeting, the board moved to vote on adoption of the calendar change.
Board member George Moye asked for an amendment stating that the superintendent and board attorney would investigate possible ways to count no students absent on that designated Saturday.
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