We've got a bunch of different magnet/calendar items in this post.

First, some people are unhappy that their letters still haven't come in yet. Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney said all the letters should have gone out by now so he's concerned that some families haven't heard yet.

Second, the selection criteria did change this year. But it wasn't quite what was originally expected.

Staff is recommending keeping the enrollment caps at Cedar Fork and Forest Pines elementary schools for the upcoming school year.

Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney told the school board this week that the growth in the base at both schools will be too great for the caps are lifted. Once again, this means new people who move into either school's attendance area will be sent to a more distant school that has the space.

Leaving the caps in place will have repercussions for people who opt out of year-round schools.

If you haven't gotten your magnet school acceptance letter by now you're probably out of luck.

But you still may have a chance if you're waiting to hear about your year-round and traditional-calendar applications.

Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney said he thinks the final batch of acceptance letters will go out today for the calendar applications. He said all the magnet acceptance letters have already been mailed with the denial letters still streaming out.

Supt. Del Burns isn't the only one walking around with a shaved head this morning.

The now essentially bald Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney attended this morning's facilities commitee meeting. Patti Head, chairwoman of the board's facilities committee, joked that she was introducing a new member this morning.

Dulaney, Burns and magnet director David Ansbacher were among the 274 people who shaved their heads on Saturday for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. The organization raises money to help children who are afflicted with childhood cancer.

The facilities committee will also discuss parking spaces and bell schedules this morning. More details to come later.

The numbers crunchers will be interested in the school-by-school look at the magnet/calendar applicants.

For instance, Brentwood Elementary School drew 261 applicants to the new engineering magnet theme that will start in August. There were questions how well it would draw in its first year.

"Brentwood did a fabulous job of going out there and selling the program," said Laura Evans, a senior director in Growth and Planning.

There's been some questions about what the school board discussed Tuesday about changes to the magnet selection criteria.

Click here for the handout that lists the questions the board was asked to answer by staff. Even though they delayed acting on options two and three, it wasn't without some heated argument.

School board member Lori Millberg was the most vocal about changing the process to make sure magnet schools are recruiting from "the right schools."

The Growth and Planning Department is making one change in the magnet and year-round selection process this year.

In a nutshell, they won't use the same set of criteria for every magnet school and year-round school. Instead, they'll adjust it depending on the demographics of that particular application school.

Whether it's a major change remains to be seen.

The enrollment projections are being lowered again in the face of the national economic meltdown.

At today's joint meeting, school and county staff say that, for budgeting purposes, they're projecting enrollment this fall at 140,012 students. That would be a gain of 2,306 students, the smallest increase since 1990.

The growth is so much slower this fall because of the economy and a new state law that says students must turn age 5 by Aug. 31 to attend kindergarten.

It looks like Wake will have a response to the fallout over the school board's decision not to sign off on a study on the diversity policy.

Administrators are trying to draw up the framework for an evaluation of the diversity policy. The nuts and bolts of the evaluation are still being prepared.

It's will be even tougher getting a slot in some popular magnet schools this year.

As noted in today's article, plans are underway to raise the percentages of low-income students at some magnet schools. It's a two-step approach involving increasing the base by reassigning in more students and restricting the number of magnet applicants who are accepted.

So the acceptance rates should fall at Hunter, Underwood and Wiley elementary schools and Enloe High. It will also get tougher making it into Partnership Elementary, which Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney will recommend getting magnet status.