How much stock should people place on the new list of the nation's best public high schools that was released this week by U.S. News & World Report.

As noted in today's article, the rankings saw some schools that do well on other lists such as Raleigh Charter High, Enloe High and East Chapel Hill High not getting ranked. Less academically heralded schools such as Garner High and Southern Wake Academy were honored on this new list.

The difference from the lists done by Newsweek and The Washington Post seems to be that U.S. News requires schools to do well with their low-income and minority students.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board is being both more secretive and more open than how the Wake County school board handled its most recent superintendent search.

As noted in today's Charlotte Observer article, the CMS school board is meeting today and Wednesday in Charlotte-Douglas Airport to interview superintendent candidates. The reason for the airport meeting is to be able to keep the identities of the candidates secret.

The CMS school board opened the meeting in public. They then adjourned into closed session in the airport director's office, which is located behind the security gates.

It's looking pretty clear that the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board will not be retaining the legal services of Republican attorney Kieran Shanahan.

Shanahan's legal contract came up last week during the school board's discussion of a proposal to increase Tharrington Smith's hourly legal rate by $5. During the work session discussion, it was noted that Shanahan's law firm is still under contract through June to receive up to $25,000.

The new unanimously approved contract will pay Tharrington Smith's partners $190 per hour, $175 an hour for associates and $95 per hour for paralegals. It's roughly a 2.7 percent increase for partners and 2.9 percent for associates.

A new ranking system from the Brookings Institution places Wake County as fourth best among the nation's 25 largest school districts in providing school choice.

The new Education Choice and Competition Index released this morning has Wake with a "B-" grade. New York City was ranked first with a "B" grade. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools ranked 11th with a "C+" grade.

Wake performed well in the categories of Accessible On-line Information, District School Quality, Popularity of Schools Reflected in Funding and Restructure or Close Undersubscribed Schools. But Brookings said Wake needs improvement on the old student assignment plan that's being phased out.

The Wake County school system officially has 146,687 students this year, up 3,388 from the same time last year.

The figure, announced today by school officials, is based on the number of students on the 20th day of classes, which was Sept. 22 for most schools. The figure was very close to the projected total of 146.657 students.

Wake remains the largest school district in North Carolina. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system is second with 138,100 students.

Wake likely has moved up one spot, ahead of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, to become the 17th largest school district in the nation. Montgomery County school officials won't have an official number until November, but they've recorded as many as 146,609 students this year

Terry Stoops says that Charlotte-Mecklenburg winning the Broad Prize shows that Wake County schools are "playing catch-up" to the often maligned school district.

in his weekly education update on Tuesday for the conservative John Locke Foundation, Stoops points to how people have taken frequent shots at CMS for its decision to move to neighborhood schools. One example he cites is how UCLA Professor Gary Orfield criticized Wake's elimination of the diversity policy in 2010 and said that "my feeling is that it's very important for people in Wake to drive over to Charlotte and see what's happened."

Stoops points to how Charlotte's low-income students outperform and outgraduate their Wake peers. He also points to how Broad praised Charlotte's efforts to target more resources into needier schools.

"So, I encourage people in Wake County and elsewhere to listen to Gary Orfield," Stoops writes. "Drive to Charlotte and 'see what's happened.' Better yet, let the Broad Foundation tell you what's happened. Charlotte-Mecklenburg has become 'a model for innovation in urban education.' Wake County is playing catch-up."

Is it good or bad for Wake County to be compared to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system?

On one hand, Charlotte-Mecklenburg received on Tuesday the 2011 Broad Prize, earning $550,000 in scholarships in recognition of its efforts to help low-income and minority students succeed and graduate.

On the other hand, you had Wake school board member Keith Sutton wanting reassurances on Tuesday that the new student assignment plan won't have Wake "wind up like Charlotte-Mecklenburg."

How much of an impact would going to express busing only for Wake County magnet schools have on the program?

As noted in today's article, Superintendent Tony Tata and school board vice chairman John Tedesco don't think the potential change would have too much of an impact. Tata pointed to the recent online test drive in which more than 70 percent of participants said only having express busing wouldn't discourage them from attending magnet schools.

Tedesco pointed to how the magnet school program still turns away a few thousand students each year. Even if fewer applications come in, he said he doesn't expect the use of express busing will cause them to have fewer applicants than seats.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

John Murphy, the first superintendent of the Wake County school system after the 1976 merger with Raleigh, died Tuesday.

One of the legacies of Murphy's tenure from 1976 to 1981 was creating a number of individual magnet schools in Southeast Raleigh for desegregation purposes. The current much larger magnet program that's now in place was created in 1982 by Murphy's successor, Walter Marks.

Murphy also led the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system from 1991 to 1995.

A partial return to letter grades in elementary school and a discussion of revising how grades are issued in middle school and high school will form part of today's Wake County school board discussion.

As noted in today's article, staff will present to the board a number of changes they want to make in a draft R&P on grading policies. It would go along with revisions they want the board to make to the grading policy.

The secondary school changes would mirror efforts begun in 2001 at elementary schools to separate out what could be considered classroom behavior from the academic grades. But the changes may be going too far for some parents and board members.