Don't be surprised if you see media coverage in the next couple of days about the weekly Wednesday early dismissals.

The school district is inviting the media to cover this afternoon's staff meeting at East Cary Middle School. Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens and the teachers will, according to the press release, "discuss the importance of professional learning teams for school instruction and the benefits of new early release Wednesday."

This is part of Wake's continuing PR efforts to pitch the academic benefits of the early dismissals to the public.

UPDATED END OF POST WITH LINK TO WAKE PRESS RELEASE ON TODAY'S EVENT AT EAST CARY MIDDLE. 

The District 7 race is getting more crowded with Jerry Ballan the lone candidate to file today for the school board.

Ballan, a securities principal/certified financial planner, became the third candidate in District 7. It looks like Ballan is positioning himself between Deborah Prickett, a board critic. and Karen Simon, a supporter of school policies.

"I'm not pro-SES (socioeconomic status) but we have to find a way to work around it to find something better," Ballan said. "You can't throw the baby out with the bath water on the first day."

Ever thought of reassignment as being a terrorist act?

You might want to read this e-mail message that was sent to the school board. It's written by a Preston resident who is upset about the proposed reassignment of students from Green Hope High to Cary High and from West Cary Middle to East Cary Middle.

Headline:  PRESTON COMMUNITY ROCKED BY MAJOR "BLAST"

I'm going to try to hit some of the high points of the plan here.

First, the three-year plan affects 26,771 students. It starts with 8,162 students in 2009-10, 14,200 in 2010-11 and 4,409 in 2011-12.

Administrators are recommending unconverting Knightdale Elementary School for the 2009-10 school year. But it comes with a catch.

UPDATE

Click here for the link to the plan. Demand on Wake's site is high now so be patient.