“Under protest,” school leaders at a popular coastal tourist destination are abandoning plans to ignore North Carolina’s school calendar law this year.
The Carteret County School Board on Friday approved a new calendar for the 2024-2025 school year that complies with state law by starting classes on Aug. 26. The board also withdrew its appeal of a court order that had challenged the district’s attempts to not follow the rules. calendar law.
The board’s decision came a day after a district court judge denied Carteret’s request to suspend the court’s June 5 ruling, which nullified their plan to start classes on August 13 declared. Carteret County is home to popular summer beach tourist areas such as Atlantic Beach, Beaufort, Emerald Isle and Morehead City.
“We recognize that an appeal would take time and we cannot leave our students and their families unsure this summer about when the school year will start,” said school board member Dennis Goodwin. “Therefore, under protest and duress of an order and judgment of the court and without waiving our position that the calendar law is unconstitutional, I propose the adoption of the attached calendar.”
As part of Friday’s vote, the board said it would encourage individual board members and the school principal to “explore all options to provide our students with equal opportunities” with students at schools that are not required to adhere to the calendar law.
Tourism industry fights back
State lawmakers have been regulating school calendars for 20 years after the tourism industry grew concerned that classes would start earlier in August.
The state’s traditional public schools may not open earlier than the Monday closest to August 26, or close later than the Friday nearest June 11. The calendar law does not apply to private schools, charter schools, year-round schools and early college high schools.
Carteret County was one of 29 school districts named in a recent state report as ignoring the calendar law. Statewide, a quarter of North Carolina school districts plan to ignore the school calendar law for the upcoming school year.
In December, the Carteret County School Board unanimously approved a calendar for the 2024-2025 school year, which would run from August 13 to May 22. School leaders cited academic benefits such as allowing high school students to complete fall semester exams before winter break.
But in April, the owners of Atlantic Beach Surf Shop, Marsh’s Surf Shop and Sanitary Fish Market & Restaurant filed a lawsuit to block the calendar.
Business owners said the loss of revenue from shortening the summer season would be significant. Carteret County is about 150 miles from Raleigh and is flooded with visitors during the summer months.
“We are pleased that the school board has finally adopted a legal calendar, even though it was forced upon them by a court order,” Mitch Armbruster, the companies’ attorney, said in an email Friday. “These school board members took an oath to follow the law, and they broke it. The students and parents of Carteret County deserve better.”
Is the calendar law unconstitutional?
The school board had argued that the school calendar law conflicts with the state constitution’s call for “equal opportunity for all students.”
“The calendar statute is unfair to our students and puts them at a disadvantage when they are competing with their peers in schools with calendar flexibility,” Goodwin said. “We believe the start and end dates in the calendar statute are inconsistent with the guarantees of our constitution.”
The district’s argument had not worked in the trial court. But school leaders were prepared to take their constitutional claims to the N.C. Court of Appeals.
“If the school board believed that their frivolous claims that the school calendar statute is unconstitutional had any merit, they would not have dropped their appeal,” Armbruster said.
The newly adopted calendar runs from August 26 to June 5. High school students will take their fall semester exams in January after they return from winter break.
“For the first time in four years on the board, I truly feel like we are about to make a decision that is not in the best interest of our students,” said Katie Statler, vice president of the school board. “It’s the first time I’ve had this feeling when I walk out of here.”
