Coastal NC district will continue its fight to open schools amid August tourist season
School leaders in a popular coastal tourism area are not giving up their fight against the tourism industry and North Carolina’s school calendar law.
Last week, a state judge sided with three local tourism-related businesses in declaring Carteret County’s plan to start classes on Aug. 13 to be illegal. In response, the school board unanimously voted Thursday to appeal the decision and to seek a stay to keep the ruling from going into effect.
The appeal comes as the start of the next school year is just two months away. School board members said they may consider revising the calendar when they meet again in late June.
“Carteret County is not the only county that adopted an illegal calendar,” said school board member Dana Mull. “We just happened to be the only one that’s currently being sued.
“Our goal is not to adopt an illegal calendar. Our goal is to have a calendar that meets the needs of our students and our staff to put students first.”
A quarter of NC districts defy calendar law
Carteret County is home to popular summer beach tourism areas such as Atlantic Beach, Beaufort, Emerald Isle and Morehead City. Located about 150 miles from Raleigh, Carteret County is flooded with visitors during the summer months.
It’s also among 29 school districts cited in a recent state report as defying a state law that requires classes to start in late August. Statewide, a quarter of North Carolina’s school districts plan to ignore the school calendar law for the upcoming school year.
“I am troubled to see the Board members continue to disregard their oath to follow the law,” Mitch Armbruster, a Raleigh attorney representing the businesses, said in an email Thursday. “That is unacceptable behavior for our elected officials.
“However, it is their right to appeal, which I hope ends in a statewide appellate decision that will stop all the illegal calendars across the state, once and for all.”
Lawmakers not budging on calendar law
State lawmakers have regulated school calendars for 20 years, since the tourism industry raised concerns about classes starting earlier in August.
The state’s traditional public schools can’t open sooner than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 or close later than the Friday closest to June 11. The calendar law doesn’t apply to private schools, charter schools, year-round schools and early college high schools.
The state Senate hasn’t acted on multiple bills passed over the years by the House to change the calendar law.
“They’re not even allowed to vote on it,” said school board member Travis Day as he made the money hand gesture of repeatedly rubbing his thumb over the tip of the index finger and middle finger.
“We feel like we’re getting held hostage. There’s a small little group controlling what we can do.”
The district had tried to argue in court that the calendar law violates the state Constitution.
Businesses will fight appeal
In December, the Carteret County school board unanimously approved a 2024-25 school year calendar that would run from Aug. 13 to May 22. School leaders cited academic benefits such as allowing high school students to finish fall semester exams before winter break.
Day said they had tried to adopt a calendar that was sensitive to the concerns of the tourism industry while still meeting academic needs.
“There’s no budging whatsoever from some of the tourism industry, unfortunately,” Day said. “I think that’s really hurting us. That’s why so many counties and so many school systems across the state have chosen to defy the calendar law.”
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. The business owners said the loss of revenue from shortening the summer season would be significant.
Carteret County ranked 11th out of the state’s 100 counties in tourism revenue in 2022 at $695 million, according to a state report.
Armbruster, the attorney for the businesses, said they will oppose the request for the stay as being without merit.
“In the meantime, the Court’s Order means that the district has no calendar, but cannot start school before Aug. 26,” Armbruster said.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Coastal NC district will continue its fight to open schools amid August tourist season."
