Here's a condensed recap of today's press conference held by Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata said his staff will work through the weekend to be able to present at Tuesday's school board meeting the impact of making adjustments to the feeder patterns. He didn't go into specifics but said they're addressing some areas of concern that have been raised.

Tata said they'll also present info on the feasibility of making changes such as raising student achievement over proximity in the selection process and setting aside 15 percent of the seats at the high-performing regional choice schools for applicants from low-performing areas.

The Cap Eigth 4-A conference season resumed this week after a number of teams participated, and performed well, in holiday tournaments. As we begin the new year, here are my power rankings for the boys side:

Millbrook (10-4): The Wildcats have played the toughest schedule of anyone in the Cap Eight. That should led Millbrook to succeeding in the conference season where the Wildcats will be the team everyone is gunning for. Shi’Chee Moore (pictured left) has proved to be the best point guard in the conference. If the Wildcats can continue to turn teams over, they’ll win a lot of games.

Wake Forest-Rolesville (10-2): Give a lot of credit to first-year coach Mickey Bissette. He has the Cougars believing in his system and themselves. The Cougars gave Garner its first loss – and this is the same Trojan team that won the premier Holiday Invitational tournament. The Cougars rolled off eight straight wins after a 66-61 win over Wakefield. Will Perry and Jordan Ayscue are making WF-R a real contender.

The Cap Eigth 4-A conference season resumed this week after a number of teams participated, and performed well, in holiday tournaments. As we begin the new year, here are my power rankings for the girls side:

Millbrook (13-1): Coach Chris East said his entire team cried last week when the Wildcats fell to Charlotte Myers Park in the championship game of the Holiday Invitational. That’s a good sign. Millbrook had dominated every team it faced before that game, and now East shouldn’t have to worry about his Wildcats getting complacent. Briana Day played well in the tournament, but Millbrook should play better with Ryan Flowers and Katelyn Mitchell returning from suspensions.

Sanderson (9-3): The Spartans are near the bottom of the standings, but no one should overlook this team. Derricka Lewis (center of photo) is averaging 13 points a game and has improved her play from last year. Bria Gibson has also being solid with 10 points a game. Sanderson defeated Athens Drive for the third time this year to win the Athens Drive Invitational Tournament.

The Wake County school board announced tonight that two schools are getting new principals and that Enloe High School's principal is moving to Central Office to oversee the magnet school program.

Beth Cochran, Enloe's principal since 2005, will now become the senior director of magnet programs. Enloe, located in East Raleigh, is the school system's flagship magnet school.

Wade Martin was named principal of Middle Creek High in Cary with a salary of $94,700 a year. He's been principal of Martin Middle since 2006.

No one disputes that more should be done to help the low-performing students at Enloe High School but the problem seems to be finding the right solution.

As noted in today's article, the rejection of the block schedule has left Enloe's leadership looking for alternatives. The challenge is finding something that will help the low-performing students without causing too many changes that would draw complaints from magnet students and their parents.

And with one current Enloe parent and two former Enloe parents now elected as school board members, what else is in store for the magnet school? Enloe has the dubious distinction of having the lowest passing rates on state tests among Wake's high schools for black and low-income students.

Cap Eight 4-A all-conference football team

Players of the year: Austin Berrios, Leesville Road; Connor Mitch, Wakefield

While much of the attention was focused on the combative Wake County school board elections, an equally hot fight was going on at Enloe High School over whether to move to a block schedule.

An Enloe faculty group had proposed switching to a block schedule as a way to help the low-performing students. But a vocal group of Enloe parents, students and teachers opposed the switch.

Last month, 65 percent of the faculty that voted rejected making the switch to the block so the issue appears to be dead for the 2012-13 school year. But it generated a lot of controversy along the way at the magnet school.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR LINK TO PDF OF PRESENTATION THAT STAFF MADE TO PARENTS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Karelov Sasha, Leesville Road

COACH OF THE YEAR
Taine Mergenthaler, Leesville Road

On the eve of Tuesday's election, Wake County Republican Party chairwoman Susan Bryant is railing against the "racist" News & Observer and saying that Daniels Middle School should be renamed,

In an issue of The Elephant Express this evening, Bryant explains that she's decided not to renew her subscription to the newspaper. But Bryant writes that's it not because "of the biased political reporting" of the Wake County school board runoff.

Bryant writes that the reason she's cancelling is that she learned "the other day" about the role of former N&O publisher Josephus Daniels in the 1898 Wilmington Race Riots. (I guess she didn't read the "Ghosts of 1898" series that ran in the N&O in 2006 about how Daniels worked with white supremacists to overthrow Wilmington's fusion government.)

The conservative Wake Community Network is calling U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan "dumb" for his latest comments on the Wake County school board elections and the old diversity policy.

In addition to saying the recent election results were "very positive," Duncan said Tuesday he "would hate to see Wake County lose that mantle" as "a national leader in diversity."  

"Does he know about how effectively these diverse, 'integrated,' magnet schools like Enloe graduate socio-economically disadvantaged children?" Joey Stansbury wrote today in his Wake Community Network Daily Journal. "Does he know that under the old failed diversity busing policy, graduation rates for those children bottomed out at 54.2%?

Another outsider coming into Wake County to speak about something they know nothing about."