Supporters of Project Enlightenment are hoping that the program's potential budget cuts won't be lost amid all the talk about calendars and student assignment policy.

As noted in today's article, parents and preschool directors are worried that Project Enlightenment will take a major hit when the superintendent's budget proposal for the 2010-11 fiscal year is presented Tuesday. More than 1,000 people have joined a "Save Project Enlightenment" Facebook group.

Project Enlightenment is part of the Central Services budget for the upcoming year that Supt. Del Burns ordered in November be cut by $20 million.

You can add Communities in Schools to the groups now taking shots at the diversity policy with the new school board members set to take office.

Neither the state nor local chapters of the group had publicly complained about the diversity policy before even though many of the students they help are among those directly impacted. But relations have frayed between CIS and Wake, as shown in today's op-ed column by Mike Stephens, chief operating officer of Communities In Schools of North Carolina.

"Busing our students is not the only way - or necessarily the best way - to make sure North Carolina is achieving equality in its public schools," Stephens writes. "We do not have to look farther than the Wake County school system to understand this."

Students and staff at the Durham Performance Learning Center were surprised this morning when they got a special visit from Bill and Melinda Gates.

The pair visited the alternative school as part of a Gates Foundation tour of 1,000 schools nationwide that were identified for their innovative programs.

The Durham Performing Learning Center serves around 120 Durham students who had dropped out or were at risk for dropping out. The center's small class size and online curriculum have generated attention for allowing students to work at their own pace to achieve their academic goals - including graduation.

The Gates' met with administrators and observed classrooms in action before pulling out about 10 students for a private conversation about what was - and wasn't - working within their schools.

"They wanted to get a firsthand conversation with the kids," said Bud Lavery, director of Communities in Schools of Durham, the organization which sponsors the Performance Learning Center in partnership with Durham Public Schools.

While a site visit from Gates Foundation representatives was scheduled, only a handful of people knew that Bill and Melinda Gates themselves would also be visiting the school.

“I think it says a lot about the magic that is happening at this school that Bill and Melinda Gates chose to see it firsthand," Lavery said.

The Gates Foundation has been funding the replication of many of the Performance Learning Centers and other alternatives models of education throughout the United States.

The potential elimination of the Communities in Schools site coordinator positions took center stage at Tuesday's budget public hearing.

As noted in today's article, more than a dozen speakers urged the school board to find a way to fund those positions, which cost Wake $472,446. They told how the CIS program, through the help of the paid coordinators, is making a difference in the lives of at-risk students.

"With the elimination of the CIS coordinator, I honeslty believe these children will be left behind," Marla Turlington, incoming PTA president at Hunter Elementary School, told the board on Tuesday.

A potential budget cut could do more harm than good for the school district.

As noted in today's article, Wake school administrators have not recommended funding the 10 Communities in Schools site coordinator positions. It would cost $472,446 to put the positions into the 2009-10 budget.

Located mostly at high-poverty schools, the site coordinators recruit tutor-mentors and provide them assistance. The coordinators also help students with other needs, such as providing them school supplies and eyeglasses and even helping their parents pay the rent.

You've got a chance today to eat out and help some at-risk Wake County students at the same time.

Today is the 10th Annual Dine Out For Kids event. Participating restaurants will donate a portion of the day's proceeds to Communities in Schools of Wake County.

CIS Wake helps enlist volunteers to tutor at-risk students and operates community learning centers

Click here for a list of participating restaurants.