Plans for the Wake County school system's first career and technical education high school are going forward, but school board members have some questions.

The board voted Tuesday night to approve an interlocal agreement requesting the Wake County Board of Commissioners to lease, renovate and purchase the former Coca-Cola bottling facility at 2200 South Wilmington Street in South Raleigh.

But some board members are worried that the program they initially backed to offer options for students who don't want to go to college has turned into more of an early college concept. In addition, board members are also uncertain about what grades should be offered at the school.

You can take a glass is half empty or half full view of Wake County student assignment in the short term.

As noted in today's article, the good news for families in the immediate future is that the 2013-14 plan is expected to have relatively few reassignments. But it's very much a transitional plan with a new plan to be developed for the 2014-15 school year that's likely to include a lot more reassignments for things such as promoting balance in student achievement and socioeconomic diversity.

"We were looking at trying to give the staff and the parents a respite so we could have the larger discussion that it seems like we’re trying to have right now, that we could have the larger discussion to put together a sustainable assignment plan," said board chairman Kevin Hill.

The new CTE high school and plans to relocate the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy to the former Thompson School building may finally being forward despite the recent bickering between the Wake County school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, the commissioners approved Monday this memorandum of understanding to lease the former Coca-Cola bottling facility in South Raleigh and renovate it for opening for the 2014-15 school year as the CTE school.

Now the school board will hold a public hearing today on the CTE high school and vote on a resolution requesting commissioners go ahead with the deal.

UPDATE

Amid concerns raised by some board members, a vote will be held Oct. 30 on whether the school should be open to sophomores, juniors and seniors or just juniors and seniors.

Could the decision by the Wake County school board's Democratic majority to fire Superintendent Tony Tata come back to haunt them when it comes to high school accreditation?

As noted in today's article, Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, said Monday he’s “troubled” by recent decisions by the the board majority to fire Tata and to drop the choice-based student assignment plan. He said he's concerned about major decisions once again being made along 5-4 partisan lines.

It's not helping the board majority that Elgart has been vocal in praising Tata's actions as superintendent.

Congratulations tonight to Ken Branch of Brentwood Elementary School being named the Wake County school system's 2012 Principal of the Year and Ruth Ann Freeman of Bugg Elementary School being named Assistant Principal of the Year.

An interesting note here is that Brentwood is one of Wake's Renaissance schools, which have come under fire lately from members of the school board's Democratic majority.

Before his firing, Superintendent Tony Tata had repeatedly touted the academic gains at the Renaissance schools. A sore point, for the majority members, is the use of merit pay at the Renaissance schools.

It's looking less likely that the Wake County school board will push for a May 2013 school construction bond issue.

As noted in today's article, school board members Susan Evans, Jim Martin and Chris Malone all said after Wednesday's facilities committee meeting that a fall 2013 bond vote is more realistic. This comes after school board chairman Kevin Hill made similar remarks in Friday's meeting with N&O reporters and editors.

“There’s been a lot that’s gone poorly in the last few months,” Evans said. “The extra time will help us re-earn the public’s trust.”

The Wake County school board's facilities committee will meet today for the first time since the departures of Superintendent Tony Tata and Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Don Haydon.

One of the topics will be start up design for the next school bond issue. Also on the agenda is the schematic design for Cary High School's renovations and geothermal heating and cooling system that would be built at Richland Creek Elementary's permanent campus.

But overshadowing all of these things is the impact recent changes in Wake school leadership will have on the planning for a school construction program and bond in 2013.

The Wake County school system appears likely to return to the practice of setting aside 10 percent of magnet school openings in the annual application process that would be filled on a random basis.

Wake used to set aside 10 percent of the magnet application seats for a more or less random lottery with the rest being filled based on selection criteria and priorities. That process was dropped this year under the choice plan.

But there was a consensus at Thursday's work session from board members to bring back the 10 percent seat lottery. if implemented, this change would most significantly impact families trying to get into high-demand magnet schools where there are for more applicants than openings.

Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill is continuing his efforts to justify the board majority's firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

As noted in today's article, Hill met Friday with N&O editors and reporters to list out issues such as concerns about Tata's relationship with board members and staff and his handling of taxpayer dollars. Some of it's similar to what he said at Tuesday's board meeting but he went into more detail.

Hill also went into how he wants to handle the superintendent's search and the timing of the next school bond issue.

UPDATE

Click here to view the letter to the editor from Kevin Hill that will appear in Tuesday's paper in response to Tata's point of view column.

Former Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata is saying his goodbyes in this op-ed piece that will appear in Friday's paper.

In the piece, Tata writes about the "progress" and "great strides" that were made during his 20-month tenure as superintendent. He also briefly addresses his firing, noting he wasn't fired with cause and wanted to stay.

"In a relatively short period of time, we significantly raised expectations and proved that all students, regardless of their socioeconomic status or where they attend school, can have strong academic performance," Tata writes. "With the hope that the impact we made will continue for the benefit of our students and with the belief that our community can best proceed with an accounting of progress, I want to share some parting observations."

UPDATE

Click here to view the letter to the editor from board chairman Kevin Hill that will appear in Tuesday's paper in response to Tata's point of view column.