We live in a booming part of the country - the Raleigh/Durham area. People are pouring in for the good jobs, great schools and pleasant suburbs. We are in the McMansion zone. People fill the suburbs with 3,000 square feet houses in developments and pay much less that what they would in the bigger metro area suburbs across the country. When you have newcomers relocating for tech and research jobs, there is a high percentage of them that will be family people or people on that path. The result is an influx of children to the school system, often too fast to handle.

We love our daughter's school. Named a Honor School of Excellence in our state for great test scores, it was built in 2000 on a large campus that has the middle school she'll attend as well. The teachers are wonderful and the school has great parent support.

However, all heck broke loose last year because our school was one of a pile of schools selected to go year round. Year round means nine weeks in school, three weeks out, continuing all through the year. There was little choice - year round means more children can attend a single school and with scads of newcomers, what else is the choice? The school already had to add sets of trailers to accommodate more kids.

Many parents were furious at being forced into this. Previously it was a voluntary choice to attend year rounds but now it was being mandated. Personally I didn't like that either in principle but I'm a big proponent of year round schools and was thrilled my daughter could stay in her core school. The middle school went year round too, so she'll have the same track schedule until she heads to high school.

Of course, this is easier for us. We have just the one child and I work from home. My daughter has ADHD and the pattern of year round works for her - she retains more and it is easier to deal with transitions for her. Plus we love being able to vacation at different times. We work on things from last quarter she might have struggled with and try to do some prep work for the next quarter.

For parents with a child on year round and a child on the traditional calendar (for example in high school) it will play havoc with childcare, schedules and family time. I acknowledge there are challenges and at least here, parents could opt out and try to transfer to another school. It did get very hostile here - parents driving around with notes on their cars, anti-year round organizations and lawsuits.

Either way as parents, we have to be supportive of the school and their choices in front of our children. Children need to go to school having confidence in their teachers, administration and staff.

How do you feel about year round schools? Does the loss of the traditional summer break concern you? Should a school be able to convert to year round and force people to deal with a new schedule? Or are in the pro-year round camp? Is three weeks the perfect amount of time to be off for children and adults? Is the freedom to travel outside of the summer a big hit?