Wake County staff propose moving Green Magnet Elementary dismissal to 3:45 p.m.

At its Feb. 17 work session, Wake County Schools staff told the Board of Education they recommend changing Green Magnet Elementary's dismissal from 4:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. for the 2026-27 instructional year.

The recommendation, presented by district staff and Principal Blake, follows a 2019 schedule change that extended the school's day. Presenters said Green has since shown substantial academic improvement under the current principal, and staff believe the school can sustain gains without the extra 15 minutes. "Staff's recommendation is to reduce the dismissal time from 4 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.," presenters said.

District staff described public engagement that informed the proposal: a thought-exchange held over two weeks (presenters described it as three Sundays of outreach) that included about 70 participants and generated roughly 60 distinct comments which were rated 687 times. The highest-rated themes from parents and staff were student focus and preserving world-language offerings, followed by concerns about after-school activities, transitions, instructional time, recess and lunch sequencing, and impacts on working families.

Presenters said the proposed bell schedule pairs lunch, recess and specials in a way that limits transitions and "protects uninterrupted core instruction." The district noted that Green had been grandfathered into a later dismissal time under earlier restart flexibilities and that those restart flexibilities are no longer being granted; bringing Green back to 3:45 p.m. would align it with other elementary schools.

Board members asked operational questions about how pairing specials and world language with recess reduces transitions, and about the transportation history that prompted the 2019 change (staff cited bus-driver shortages and late pickups at that time). Trustees also raised recruitment and retention concerns because a longer school day can make staffing harder compared with other schools.

District staff told the board the Green adjustment will be included in the district's annual bell-schedule package that transportation brings forward for formal approval, rather than as an immediate standalone vote.

The board did not take a final vote on the Green schedule during the work session; staff will include the proposal in the annual package to be considered at a future board meeting.