Here's the quick recap of today's press conference held by Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata defended the proposed bell schedules changes as a way that will save money that can be put to better use in the classroom. But he also acknowledged parental concerns, pointing to the online survey that has generated 1,100 comments so far.

Tata also said today that, based on parental feedback, he'll talk with school board chairman Kevin Hill about taking another look at the deal to lease an office building to serve as a new Panther Creek High School ninth-grade center.

The board opted not to stick modular units on the site of a future middle school next to Alston Ridge Elementary School. While the office building at 3700 Pleasant Church Grove Road in Morrisville is further away from the high school, it can be ready for the 2012-13 school year.

UPDATE

Click here for the online story.

Is the Governor Morehead School for the Blind the right place to house some of the students in the Wake County school system's new single-sex leadership academies?

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told state legislators on Tuesday that he's been negotiating with the state Department of Public Instruction to lease space at the Morehead School to house 300 students. It's part of State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson's ongoing efforts to find alternative funding to avoid closing the Morehead School.

Later at Tuesday's school board meeting, Tata provided more detail to board members. He said the plan is to house the middle school students from the leadership academies at the Morehead School.

The Wake County school system's new online survey on the bell schedule proposal is now live

Click here to take the survey. The survey runs through 10 p.m. on Feb. 16.

Comments will be provided to school board members before they discuss the proposal again on Feb. 21.

It looks like the 30 protesters who were arrested at Wake County school board meetings in 2010 will finally be going to court.

Court dates have been scheduled for four Fridays between March 2 and April 13. Prosecutors grouped the court dates for the defendants based on when they were arrested.

This means the people arrested in March and June 2010 will be in court March 2. This group includes the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP; the Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Tim Tyson, a Duke University historian and author; and Dante Strobino, co-founder of the self-described socialist group Raleigh FIST.

It might not produce any changes in the proposed bell schedules for Wake County schools this fall, but look for a discussion Feb. 21 on the impact of school start times on high school students.

School board member John Tedesco wants staff to talk about the sleep study research that indicates it's better to have later start times for older students.

Also look for a discussion on traffic concerns raised by school board member Jim Martin that later start times for high school students could be dangerous.

Wake County school board member Jim Martin flexed some of his political muscle at Tuesday's school board meeting.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Martin got the board to amend the plan to reallocate $130 million in unused bond money to cover the cost of design work for renovations to Athens Drive High's stadium. Staff is projecting they'll have $500,000 left over, which Martin noted would cover the design costs for the stadium.

The design work would jump start the renovation project. The actual funding for the $7.4 million in renovation work would come from the next bond issue.

Late Tuesday night, the Wake County school board voted 5-4 along party lines to pass on first reading the reinstatement of the student achievement, finance, policy and facilities committees.

Under the vote, which will still require a second reading for adoption, the committees would be reevaluated after six months. Left unresolved Tuesday was the future of the economically disadvantaged student performance task force.

Democratic school board chairman Kevin Hill proposed keeping the ED task force but rolling it into the student achievement committee. That proposal drew opposition from Republican school board member John Tedesco, who has headed the ED task force since its formation in 2010.

Can the Wake County school system sell the public on the merits of the bell schedule changes for this fall?

As noted in today's article, school staff said the proposal would help Wake avoid $10 million in costs and revenue losses this fall. But school board members said it would take community outreach to explain it to parents why they're being asked to make changes of more than an hour in some cases.

"If we don't (do community outreach), we’re going to get thousands of calls and emails about this," said school board member John Tedesco.

UPDATE

Click here for the handout from the board meeting. It lists the proposed bell schedules.

Wake has fixed some errors with the individual school times from yesterday's handout. I've replaced the link with the new one. Wake made more corrections Thursday.

It's late so I'll keep it short.

The first reading of the revised middle school math placement policy was tabled Tueseay night at the suggestion of Wake County school board member John Tedesco. This came in an attempt to block a motion by school board member Jim Martin that would have nixed the policy entirely in favor of forming a working group to evaluate and stop tracking issues.

Martin questioned the need to have a districtwide policy on math placement when one doesn't exist for other subjects. He also criticized the use of the 70 percent EVAAS probability of success as the floor for placing students,

By passing Tedesco's motion, it moves the discussion of the policy to the next board meeting. Ruth Steidinger, senior director of middle school programs, said the middle schools will do math placement this month for the upcoming school year and need guidance soon on what criteria to use.

The Wake County school board meeting is running past 11 p.m. despite an effort to adjourn the meeting.

Pursuant to board policy, board chairman Kevin Hill said he needed a vote to continue the meeting past 11 p.m. He said they need to continue because staff had time-sensitive items.

School board member Debra Goldman then made a motion to adjourn the meeting. That vote took priority but was defeated with only Goldman, Chris Malone and Deborah Prickett supporting adjournment.

With the motion defeated, the board voted to continue with the meeting.

UPDATE

A second motion from Goldman at 11:11 p.m. to adjourn the meeting was also defeated.

A third motion from Goldman at 11:18 p.m. was defeated.

With all business done, the motion passed to adjourn at 11:20 p.m.