Air-conditioned school buildings are too expensive to build and maintain and then stand idle for weeks at a stretch. In-house training and computer technology allow teachers to keep abreast of their field, and administrators to wrestle effectively with the paperwork without taking off for months. Many parents objected. But professionals are persevering. The latest assessment from the Cape Fear area echoes that from other parts of the country.
Teachers say they retain material better.
Parents say their children are happier and learn more. And kids say, well, they're getting used to full-time school. Enrollment at those schools has grown 20 percent this year to 3,288 students. That echoes a statewide movement that has seen the number of year-round schools in North Carolina grow from three in 1990 to 94 in 1996. It's not a matter of if we go to year-round, but when.