Add Apex Middle School and Athens Drive High to the list of Wake County schools getting extra security Friday in response to rumors that students will bring weapons to campus that day.

Those two schools, along with Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, will see extra police and school security staff on campus. They're all dealing with rumors about impending violence that school officials say aren't believed to be real.

But no one is taking chances at those three schools in the aftermath of last week's Connecticut school shootings. Mike Charbonneau, a Wake schools' spokesman, said extra security will be provided to any other schools that have concerns.

Charbonneau said the rumors circulating at the three schools are part of a national rumor that's floating around about school violence. Similar rumors were spread nationally after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.

We're potentially three weeks away from a preliminary vote on the renovation projects that would be funded in the next Wake County school bond referendum.

The Wake County school board got an overview from staff today of the initial list of proposed whole campus renovations, partial campus renovations, life cycle projects and support and athletic facilities. No decisions were made today.

Staff will bring the list back at next Tuesday's board meeting for further discussion. Don Haydon, chief facilities and operations officer, said he'd like the board to at least give a thumbs up vote on Sept. 4 to see if they're going in the right direction on the list.

The initial list of Wake County school construction needs is out for consideration in the next school capital improvement program and bond issue.

As noted in today's article, staff will lay out at today's school board facilities committee meeting that 24 new schools are needed over the next four years. That includes 14 new elementary schools, three middle schools, five regular high schools, the CTE high school and an alternative school.

They've also listed 12 whole campus renovations that will essentially mean rebuilding those schools, 16 partial campus school renovations, various life-cycle projects and assorted support and athletic facilities.

Former Garner High School girls basketball coach Lawrence Dunn is one of the eight individuals selected for induction into the 2012 class of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

Dunn led Garner to the state girls basketball championship and an undefeated season in 1977-78 and later coached at Athens Drive from 1979-2001 winning 445 games during his tenure as boys coach. He was a recent inductee to the Garner High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Conference 2 boys lacrosse standings at the end of the playoffs, plus the all-conference team and awards. "Conference 2" includes the seven Tri-Nine programs who play the sport, plus Cardinal Gibbons.

Texas Rangers centerfielder Josh Hamilton will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. The Raleigh Athens Drive High graduate is the subject of a story entitled “The Fragile Brilliance of Josh Hamilton.”

The all-conference list, final regular season standings, list of regional qualifiers and conference tournament results from the 2012 Tri-Nine Conference boys golf season.

The boys lacrosse playoffs start this Friday. Holly Springs and Carrboro earned wild-card spots while Broughton, Jordan, Chapel Hill and Cardinal Gibbons are No. 1 seeds after winning their respective conferences.

East Chapel Hill, a 2-seed, is the defending East regional champ while Northwest Guilford is the defending state champion.

Half of the field at the Bobby Murray Invitational, hosted by the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, is from the Cap-8 Conference. The other half includes teams like East Wake, Wake County Homeschool, Fuquay-Varina, Athens Drive (defending champ) and Person.

Six Wake County schools will benefit from a new education program launched by LEGO Education that will promote the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concept.

LEGO Education North America and the Education Blueprint Association are giving the Wake County school system two $40,000 grants with the district providing a matching $80,000. Wake is receiving two of the 14 regional centers for the LEGO Smart Schools program.

The money will allow three Raleigh schools (Combs Elementary, Centennial Campus Middle and Athens Drive High) and three Knightdale schools (Hodge Road Elementary, East Wake Middle and Knightdale High) to receive special hands-on programs from LEGO.

More details about what the schools will receive will be unveiled at a presentation this morning at Combs.