Hundreds of Durham students are expected at this evening's career expo for middle school students.

Over 200 professionals from fields like video game development to law are slated to come out and talk about their careers.

The first 200 students to show up will receive a free Chick-Fil-A Kid's meal and a chance to win door prizes. Parents and guardians are encouraged to attend. They can enter to win one of two $50 gas cards.

The Expo takes place today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m at Northgate Mall, 1058 West Club Blvd. A map of the events and more information is available here.

Durham schoolchildren have again begun their annual tradition of filling "Barrels of Love" with food for the Salvation Army's pantry.

Each school in Durham has collection barrels for nonperishable foods. Some are holding competitions for the most food collected, too.

“Every year, this drive is one of the biggest sources of nonperishable foods for our pantry,” said Debbie Avolin, director of social services for The Salvation Army, in a press release. “Durham’s young people work really hard to collect tons of canned goods for people in need.”   

Continue reading to learn more about how you can help:

Durham Public Schools superintendent Carl E. Harris will leave the school system at the end of the calendar year in order to work for the U.S. Department of Education, according to a news release sent this morning.

Harris has accepted a position as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for Policy and Strategic Initiatives with the federal agency.

“It is with heavy but deeply grateful hearts that the members of the Durham Public Schools Board of Education accept the resignation of Dr. Carl Harris. Dr. Harris has provided a quiet strength in his leadership of our district over the past three-and-a-half years,” said Minnie Forte-Brown, chairwoman of the Durham school board. "Durham’s loss is definitely our nation’s gain. We wish him well as he takes his wisdom and his experience to Washington to improve schools across our country.”

Harris has served as superintendent of Durham Public Schools since July 1, 2006. Previously, he was the superintendent of Franklin County Schools.

Update: Harris is expected to stay in his post through "at least" Dec. 31, according to DPS spokesman Michael Yarbrough. The school board will soon decide who will serve as an interim superintendent, he said. They'll then work out the details for picking a new superintendent. The board's next meeting is Nov. 19.

The full news release is posted after the jump:

The Durham Public Schools' board of education plans to talk about individual school improvement plans and Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate classes at their monthly instructional services committee meeting today.

They'll also be discussing contracts for supplemental educational services (SES), or the mandatory extra tutoring supports that must be available for students when schools don't pass federal testing standards.

The meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. at the school system's headquarters, located at 511 Cleveland St. Committee meetings are open to the public.

The entire agenda for today's meeting can be viewed here.

The state's Department of Public Instruction released School Report Cards for districts and individuals schools late last week.

Each school's report card can be viewed at www.ncreportcards.org. You can click to view details on each school district and each school in categories like technology usage, funding, test scores, suspensions and teacher quality.

It's a quite interesting and comprehensive read. In addition to the standard testing reports, you can also check out how many of your school's computers have Internet access, or how many teachers have advanced degrees.

Gwen Johnson, principal of Mangum Elementary School, was named Durham Public Schools' Principal of the Year this morning.

Johnson was chosen by a committee of former award recipients and DPS administrators. She will now repesent the school system in the North Carolina Wachovia Principal of the Year competition.

Johnson has been principal at the school since 2004. Before that, she taught at Oak Grove Elementary. She holds degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill, NCCU and East Carolina University.

Durham Public Schools Board of Education member Dr. Kirsten Kainz offered strong words at the board's meeting last night to critics of standardized tests and the Reading Street curriculum.

Kainz made a lengthy statement before offering an update on the elementary instruction initiatives. She also directly responded to parents who spoke earlier about their concerns over Durham's emphasis on testing and the Reading Street curriculum. These parents brought up the school district's ties with the Broad Foundation, a controversial group that trains and awards large amounts of money to reform school districts - especially in urban areas. (I'll do a separate post on Broad tomorrow.)

Her full statement is after the jump:

Hillside New Tech High School was recently awarded a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam to create a residential green roofing system.

The school is one of only 15 high schools nationwide to be selected as an InvenTeam recipient and the first school in the state selected in the program's eight-year history.

InvenTeams are teams of high school students, teachers and mentors who receive grants to invent technological solutions to real world problems.

Hillside New Tech, the small engineering-focused high school within Hillside High, received $7,000 for a project that will allow plants to grow on sloped roofs, reducing storm water runoff and providing natural shade to homes.

Two Durham schools took first place overall in their respective categories for art in the North Carolina State Fair.

George Watts Montessori Elementary School and Chewning Middle School took first place for elementary and middle school, respectively.

Watts art teacher Carol Barnes and Chewning teacher James Hensley each will receive $650 for use in the classroom. Durham School of the Arts student Jillian Clark took second place in the Kim Crenshaw Photography Seniors Awards. She will receive $50.

UPDATED: It's Scott Savol, a finalist on American Idol season four. Savol is giving a guest motivational speech for students in a Hillside assembly. He is also likely to sing this morning.

Savol made it to the top 5 of contestants in season four. He is married and a father - but he was also known for a controversy that season. That's because Savol had previously been charged with misdemeanor assault for hitting his girlfriend and mother of his son with a telephone on Valentine's Day 2001. Savol pled the charge down to disorderly conduct and received probation while also taking a domestic violence class. I wonder if he'll be discussing that with the students.

Looks like there's going to be a surprise visitor at Hillside High school tomorrow.

New principal Hans Lassiter hinted as much on his Twitter account:

"Someone SPECIAL is coming to HHS on Friday morning! This is the FIRST in our HOPE Series! Stay tuned! It's gonna be DA BOMB!"

Following a visit by Bill and Melinda Gates to the Performance Learning Center two weeks ago, I'm betting it won't be small potatoes.