Is the Governor Morehead School for the Blind the right place to house some of the students in the Wake County school system's new single-sex leadership academies?

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told state legislators on Tuesday that he's been negotiating with the state Department of Public Instruction to lease space at the Morehead School to house 300 students. It's part of State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson's ongoing efforts to find alternative funding to avoid closing the Morehead School.

Later at Tuesday's school board meeting, Tata provided more detail to board members. He said the plan is to house the middle school students from the leadership academies at the Morehead School.

It might not produce any changes in the proposed bell schedules for Wake County schools this fall, but look for a discussion Feb. 21 on the impact of school start times on high school students.

School board member John Tedesco wants staff to talk about the sleep study research that indicates it's better to have later start times for older students.

Also look for a discussion on traffic concerns raised by school board member Jim Martin that later start times for high school students could be dangerous.

Can the Wake County school system sell the public on the merits of the bell schedule changes for this fall?

As noted in today's article, school staff said the proposal would help Wake avoid $10 million in costs and revenue losses this fall. But school board members said it would take community outreach to explain it to parents why they're being asked to make changes of more than an hour in some cases.

"If we don't (do community outreach), we’re going to get thousands of calls and emails about this," said school board member John Tedesco.

UPDATE

Click here for the handout from the board meeting. It lists the proposed bell schedules.

Wake has fixed some errors with the individual school times from yesterday's handout. I've replaced the link with the new one. Wake made more corrections Thursday.

It's not been easy for the Wake County school system to sell the three former administration buildings it owns in Raleigh.

As noted in today's article, the school board will vote today on an offer of $2.6 million for the Noble Road property. It's $900,000 less than the school system had hoped to get.

Proceeds from the sale are supposed to help pay for the cost of leasing and operating the new headquarters in Cary. As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, there are some questions as well about how that lease deal was handed.

UPDATE

The sale of the Noble Road site was approved 8-1 with only John Tedesco in dissent.

How much is it worth, in terms of dollars and potential negative impact on the magnet school program, to reduce bus ride times in Wake County?

Bob Snidemiller, senior director of transportation, told school board members last week that they could reduce more bus ride times for non-magnet students to 45 minutes or less. But it would require buying more buses.

The number of new buses needed would depend on whether all magnet routes were switched to express runs, something the new majority would likely not back.

Should a new high school on Green Level Church Road in Cary or on Humie Olive Road in Apex be built first?

As noted in today's article, that's an issue facing Wake County school board members deciding how to use nearly $100 milion in unspent bond money. The board could make the final call on Tuesday, which would also impact whether the district immediately starts work on a new elementary school in Wake Forest, a new elementary school in Wendell or a new middle school in northwest Raleigh.

As you guys may recall, staff had proposed in June two options for using bond savings and other cuts to fund some interim construction projects until the next bond issue goes forward.

With no firm date set for the next bond issue, Wake County school administrators want to use their savings to get a head start on some construction projects.

As noted in today's article, administrators want to use most of the $91.3 million in savings from the 2006 bond issue to add more high school seats. But the money could also be used to get work done on the long-discussed middle school near Leesville Church and Strickland roads in northwest Raleigh.

Click here for a handout of the presentation that staff gave the school board last week.

Don't look for any Wake County year-round schools to be converted to a traditional calendar for the 2012-13 school year.

During a discussion today about Wake's building needs, Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Don Haydon said they're working under the assumption that all current year-round schools would stay on that calendar in 2012-13.

School board chairman Ron Margiotta asked Superintendent Tony Tata if that's also the assumption he's working on and he answered yes. There was some talk in the blue and green plans about converting some year-round schools.

I'll get into the discussion of Wake's building needs in a later post but for now staff says Wake is facing some looming seat shortfalls.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata proposed today creating a new position responsible for overseeing student performance and putting student assignment under the control of a new office.

Tata’s call for a shakeup of his senior leadership team came after the presentation of a consultant’s report that found that Wake’s administrative structure was lean but needs more focus placed on improving student academic performance.

“(Superintendent Tony Tata) needs to have one person identified as the go to person in student performance,” said Robert Schiller, the head of the audit team.

Here's a synopsis of how Wake County school administrators are dealing with a proposed 8.8 percent funding cut from state House Education leaders.

With the cut being far higher than the 5 percent reduction the new budget was built on, Wake is drawing up plans should they need to lay off teacher assistants and custodians.

One of the major differences between what the state Department of Public Instruction and the state House has proposed is a greater reduction in funding for teacher assistants. The state House plan would remove all funding for teacher assistants beyond kindergarten and first grade.