Nearly two-dozen Wake County students are facing the impact of the enrollment caps that were placed on some schools for the rest of the school year.

Laura Evans, senior director of student assignment, said that as of Wednesday 22 students have been capped out of their base school for the rest of the school year. The information was shared during Thursday's joint meeting of the school board and county commissioners.

“It’s not something like we do, but we also don’t like excessively crowded schools," Evans said.

The purchase of the former YWCA building near downtown Raleigh for a future Wake County school is now dead.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners had agreed Nov. 19 to purchase the property, but title problems were later discovered with one of the three tracts in the deal. The school system asked commissioners to approve today this amended deall allowing it to split up the purchase into two parts.

But in a departure from the 4-3 vote in November, the commissioners unanimously voted today for Commissioner Tony Gurley's motion to reject the new request and to declare the prior approval dead.

Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton is calling Friday's meeting with Joe Bryan, chairman of the board of commissioners, to discuss setting a fall 2013 school bond issue "productive."

Sutton and Bryan met Friday to discuss the topics that will be on the agenda when the full boards have joint meetings next year on the bond. Sutton said topics will include things such as the amount of the bond issue, what calendar or calendars to use and the construction costs for schools.

Sutton said they've also tentatively agreed on dates for the joint meetings. But he said they want to discuss the dates with their respective boards before announcing them publicly.

It looks like new leadership on the Wake County Board of Commissioners and school board is putting things on track for a fall 2013 school bond issue.

As noted in today's article, the leadership of both boards will meet Dec. 21 to schedule dates for four joint meetings of the full boards in early 2013 to discuss the bond.

The joint meetings have been on hold since Paul Coble, former chairman of the commissioners, canceled them following the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

Joe Bryan talked about restoring the relationship with the Wake County school board fresh off his election today as the new chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners,

Bryan was elected chairman in a 4-3 party line vote with all the Republicans voting for him and all the Democrats voting for Betty Lou Ward. In a similar 4-3 vote, Phil Matthews was re-elected vice chairman over James West.

Bryan acknowledged how strained relations have become between the school board and commissioners in the past year. He'll likely be working with Keith Sutton, who is expected to be elected the new school board chairman on Tuesday by the Democratic majority.

"I see the biggest challenge that we face personally is trying to reestablish, to restore our partnership wit the Wake County Board of Education and to in fact bring about a successful school bond issue for this coming year," Bryan said during his acceptance remarks.

You can also look for new leadership next week on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

It's expected that Joe Bryan will take over Monday for Paul Coble as chairman of the board of commissioners while Phil Matthews would remain vice chairman. Barring any repeat of the 2009 restroom incident, Bryan will likely be elected by his fellow Republican commissioners.

Bryan says he has contacted both Republican and Democratic commissioners for their support.

The former YWCA building could turn into a new Wake County elementary school as opposed to future expansion space for the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners voted this afternoon to approve the $1 million purchase of the YWCA building that had been requested by the school board. The commissioners also approved reallocating money for renovations for the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy and to modify the MOU for the CTE high school.

But it was the vote over the YWCA building that was the most contentious decision. Approval came on a 4-3 vote when Republican Commissioner Joe Bryan joined the Democrats in voting yes.

Should the Wake County school board fill Chris Malone's soon-to-be-vacant seat with a person from Eastern Wake?

As noted in today's article, some Eastern Wake leaders say the vacancy should be filled by a person who would be strong voice for the region. Malone's district includes most of Eastern Wake and also Wake Forest and Rolesville.

Area leaders say they want things such as more resources, magnet schools, electives and other programs to help with the high percentage of free-and-reduced-lunch students in the region's schools.

It may be a tough sell for the Wake County school system to get county commissioners to approve funding for the single-sex leadership academies and the purchase of the former YWCA building.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Republican commissioners wanted more details before approving use of $1.657 million to renovate the former Thompson School as the site of the Wake Young Men’s Leadership Academy. There were also questions about using $2.9 million to renovate buildings at the Gov. Morehead School for use by the Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

But there seemed to be an especially heavy dose of skepticism about spending $1.1 million to buy the former YWCA building on Hargett Street.

Some local Republican elected officials are backing away from their endorsements or denying they made them in Wake County school board member Chris Malone's bid to win the state House 35 seat.

As noted in today's North Raleigh News article by Paul A. Specht and Colin Campbell, some GOP politicians are distancing themselves from Malone since the recent reports about his relationship with fellow school board member Debra Goldman. In some ways, the reaction is similar to how state GOP officials are distancing themselves from Goldman in her run for state auditor.

“I know I endorsed him in the past,” said Commissioner Phil Matthews, vice chairman of the commissioners, of Malone. “But, I have not voted yet and am going to wait and see how things go before I take things further.”