As some have already mentioned on the blog, Millbrook High School is moving from the 4x4 block schedule to the A/B block schedule this fall.

This switch would make Millbrook one of only three high schools in the Wake County school system not using the 4x4 block in which students take a different set of four 90-minute courses each semester. Under the A/B block, students will take all eight courses over the entire year by alternating between four different 90-minute courses each day.

As noted in in this article in Wednesday's North Raleigh News by Sarah Barr, Julieta Ventura, an assistant principal at Millbrook who oversees the IB program, said the school is still operating within the county's rules because the schedule change is required to maintain the IB program.

Clayton was the top-ranked boys' basketball team in the N&O area at the end of the regular season.

J.F. Webb was the area's only state champion in the NCHSAA playoffs. The Warriors claimed the 3A title, while Broughton was runner-up in 4A.

Below are all of the match-ups in 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A and links to our coverage from every round.

N&O all-metro team: 10 players named to the team
Final N&O top 15 rankings: Webb No. 1, Broughton No. 2, etc.
All District teams: Hicks and Gary Clark honored by district
POTY: Isaiah Hicks wins Gatorade player of the year
All-State: Hicks (Webb), Clark (Clayton), Devonte Graham (Broughton) and Tyrone Outlaw Jr. (Person)
N&O Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Isaiah Hicks, J.F. Webb

How does banning unhealthy foods at school concession stands sound as a goal for the Wake County school system?

As noted in today's article, the district's School Health Advisory Council will present to the school board today this list of recommendations as part of its annual report. The most controversial recommendation would ban the sale of unhealthy foods such as "candy bars, donuts, cookie dough, bake sales, etc.” by schools or “school affiliated groups.”

This recommendation would cover fundraisers whether they're held during or outside the school day. It also encompasses the food sales done by the booster groups to help raise money for athletic programs.

Broughton's boys and Millbrook's girls won the Cap Eight conference tournament. Broughton's title game appearance broke a tie for the league's top seed in the state tournament.

Championship Story on both games
Photo Gallery from both finals

Hilda McCullers contends that her 30+ years as a classroom teacher and being a lifelong resident of Eastern Wake make her the best choice to fill the vacancy on the Wake County school board.

In her application, McCullers, 63, writes about having lived all her life in eastern Wake, going from being a student in the district to later a teacher. The Democrat taught science from 1975 to 2006, the majority of the time at Broughton High School.

"I have seen this area transition from mostly rural farm land to a more urban area as the population increased," McCullers writes in the application for the District 1 seat. "This gives me firsthand knowledge of the changes and challenges in District 1 both as a a parent and as an educator."

The good folks at NCRunners.com have crunched all of this year's cross country numbers and came out with top-10 rankings for every championship class in both genders.

In the interest of having you visit NCRunners.com and supporting that site, we won't tell you who is ranked where. But we will list below the area teams that made each ranking and provide links to each of NCRunners' full rankings.

Wake County school administrators highlighted Thursday the various programs that are in place to provide unique academic offerings to the district's schools.

Historically, the magnet schools program has been the way that Wake schools have been beefed up academically. But during Thursday's school board student achievement committee meeting, staff highlighted the STEM schools, the Global Schools, early colleges, Renaissance Schools, K-8 academy, career academies and Title I program.

In a perhaps symbolic decision, the magnet programs office has been renamed magnet and curriculum enhancement.

Which Wake County magnet schools, if any, should be worrying about losing their magnet status?

During Tuesday's school board work session, Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore said the determination on demagnetization is a longer more drawn out process that they weren't going to discuss yet. She wanted the board to focus on the adoption of the magnet principles and which schools to include in the magnet grant.

But this color-coded chart showing how the existing magnets fare under the magnet principles could give an indication of which schools might be at higher risk. Green indicates strongly aligned with the magnet principles, yellow is moderately aligned and red and white both mean not aligned.

Rosters for the N.C. Coaches Association East-West All-Star girls soccer game, including Apex's Katie Thomas, Cardinal Gibbons' Hannah Holub and Caitlin Donovan, Carrboro's Samantha Burnch and Kyle Tawnie and Broughton's Kristen Cherry and Clay Weaver.

Different methodologies are yielding different results on competing lists of the nation's top public high schools.

Four schools in the Triangle made the top 100 of Newsweek magazine’s “America’s Best High Schools 2012” list that was released this week. A total of 11 Triangle schools made the top 1,000 school list.

In contrast, only three schools in the entire state were in the top 1,000 in the U.S. News & World Report list released this month. Broughton High School in Raleigh was the only Triangle school in the top 1,000 on that list at 966.