The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled earlier today that the Wake County Board of Education has the right to change schools from a traditional calendar to year-round schedules and to assign students to them without parental consent. This unanimous ruling from the three-judge panel is a landmark decision upholding the authority of a local school board to handle student assignment issues as it deems appropriate.

The court’s opinion also favorably cites information from the amicus brief that the North Carolina Association of School Administrators filed in support of the Wake County Board of Education, when the board in 2007 appealed a lower court’s ruling that the school district could not assign students to year-round schools without informed parental consent. The Appeals Court’s opinion, which may be accessed on NCASA’s website at

http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2008/pdf/070810-1.pdf, includes the following:”Thus, if plaintiffs disagree with mandatory assignment to year-round schools, their remedy lies with the electoral process or through communications with the legislative and executive branches of government. We cannot improve upon the incisive statement contained in the amicus brief filed on behalf of the North Carolina Association of School Administrators:

To the extent that the General Assembly wanted to limit or even eliminate “year round” calendar schools, it has the power to do so. It has not done so, obviously recognizing the importance of giving school boards the necessary flexibility to deal with diverse student populations and the particular challenges faced during a school year by different districts from the mountains to the coast, from small rural districts to large urban districts. To allow the trial court’s order and reasoning to stand would significantly impair the ability of boards and school administrators to tailor school calendars and assignment policies of each district so as to provide each student an opportunity for a sound basic education and to prudently utilize the tax resources which fund that opportunity.

Accordingly, we reverse the decision below and remand for entry of judgment in favor of the Board.”

To view statewide media coverage of today’s ruling, access the following links:

News & Observer of Raleigh:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/wake/v-print/story/1062466.html

WRAL-TV Channel 5 of Raleigh:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2837963/?print_friendly=1

NCASA applauds the Appeals Court ruling and will provide additional information on this important issue as further developments occur.