Citing employee shortage, Wake suspends follow-up learning program for students year-round :: WRAL.com

By Emily Walkenhorst, WRAL education reporter

Cary, North Carolina – The Wake County public school system has pressed the 2021 summer apprenticeship program pause button for year-round students, citing a shortage of employees.

Spokeswoman Lisa Luten told WRAL News the district is running out of bus drivers, among other workers.

The summer apprenticeship program is required as part of the 2021-7 sessional law, and districts have funded much of it using federal COVID-19 stimulus funds intended to accelerate the learning of young people. students who fell behind during the pandemic.

The law requires each public school district to provide 30 days or 150 hours of summer learning.

In Wake County and other districts, summer apprenticeship programs have been split into multiple sessions for students in schools open throughout the year. Year-round schools in Wake County were supposed to offer the program in three two-week sessions, during student follow-up periods throughout the year. These were to be completed later this fall.

Luten said she wasn’t immediately sure how many hours or days the year-round schools had completed so far.

The Wake County Summer Apprenticeship Programs have been organized so that students from multiple schools take the same curriculum at one school, instead of their home school.

The district has 47 schools open year round, most of which are elementary schools and a handful of middle schools.

With nearly 20,000 students enrolled in the programs, the district offered bonuses to employees who did not have a 12-month employment contract but did not have enough policy takers.

Bonuses didn’t work to fill all the open positions this fall, either, for bus drivers, cafeteria staff, special education teaching assistants, or virtual academy teachers.

This week, the district also informed schools that they will send staff from the central office to work in the buildings starting October 11, on request and as needed. It was not clear on Tuesday morning whether the additional help could prompt summer apprenticeship programs to resume.