As many television viewers may have noticed, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker greeted President Barack Obama when Air Force One arrived at RDU on Wednesday.

Meeker, a fellow Democrat, said this was the second time he'd met Obama, the first being a brief encounter on the Wednesday before the November election when the future president was in town for a campaign event.

Meeker said Wednesday's meeting was also brief and "entirely ceremonial."

"I thanked him for coming back to Raleigh and working hard on this health care and he said we’re going to get it done and got in the car and took off."

It looks like we can finally put the Broughton High School parking lot issue to bed.

The Raleigh City Council voted 7-1 this afternoon to allow Broughton to build a parking lot with up to 100 spaces on the school's historic front lawn. It represents a victory for students, parents and staff over alumni who had opposed the parking lot request.

The lone dissenter today was City Council Thomas Crowder, a Broughton alumnus.

The Broughton High School community is on a roll.

One week after the school board voted to keep the school's magnet program, Broughton got a favorable recommendation today for more parking on the school's front lawn. The Raleigh City Council's Comprehensive Planning Committee recommended that Broughton be allowed to add up to 100 parking spaces on the lawn.

While it's less than the 126 spaces that the school requested, it's far more than what the alumni wanted. The alumni had urged that the school's parking lot request be rejected.

Broughton High School ducked a new requirement on Tuesday that could have sharply reduced the number of magnet applicants.

School board member Patti Head had initially proposed telling Broughton's magnet students that they'd need to take the IB Diploma Programme to stay at the school. She had been responding to concerns that a minority of the magnet students make the attempt to get an IB diploma.

That requirement was initially part of the motion that Head had proposed to keep the magnet program at Broughton.

School board member Beverley Clark had a message on Tuesday for all those Broughton High School parents who had been lobbying for the magnet program to be saved.

Clark said the Broughton parents, who had bombarded board members with e-mail messages and calls, need to show the same level of energy during the budget season. She said the parents need to urge the county commissioners to provide the school system with adequate funding.

Clark warned that next year's budget negotiations could be very difficult. Considering that County Manager David Cooke warned this week that the county is facing a potential $17 million budget shortfall due to the global crisis, it's not lookiing good for a big boost in school funding next year.

Broughton High School parents may come to rue the school board's decision to not demagnetize the school.

As noted in today's article, school board members told staff to look at ways to increase the number of magnet students at Broughton. Considering how landlocked the school is, that's going to mean moving some base students out.

That won't sit well with Broughton families who, as the old saying goes, want to have their cake and eat it too.

The magnet parents at Daniels Middle School made an unsuccessful pitch to the school board today to save its magnet program.

These parents, from Cary and Apex, were miffed when told by the board that the Oct. 7 decision to demagnetize Daniels was final. They questioned how such an important decision could be made before giving the public a chance to comment.

The Daniels' parents are being treated differently than those at Lincoln Heights, Olds, Root and Wake Forest elementary schools when they were demagnetized.

Broughton High School is keeping its magnet program.

The school board unanimously voted today to keep Broughton as an International Baccalaureate magnet school. The vote came after intense lobbying by Broughton parents, which board members acknowledged, to save the magnet program.

Board members stressed the strong academic quality of Broughton's IB program.

UPDATE

The school board has also voted to keep the IB program at Enloe High School. While Enloe's magnet status was never in danger, Lori Millberg questioned whether it needed to be both a GT and IB school.

This could either be a very good day or bad day for Broughton High School.

In a pair of separate meetings this afternoon, Broughton will find out whether it keeps its magnet program and if it will get its request approved for more parking on the front lawn.

Staff isn't recommending demagnetizing Broughton, but then again that didn't help Daniels Middle School when the school board pulled the plug earlier this month.

UPDATE

Click here for an op-ed piece in today's paper supporting keeping the school's magnet program.