The Wake County school board appointed a principal to North Forest Pines Elementary School tonight and made several interim principal appointments.

Syreeta Smith was promoted from assistant principal to principal of North Forest Pines Elementary in Raleigh. She's been at the school since 2007 and will receive a salary of $80,788.24.

As for interim principals:

The Wake County school board approved today offering bonus pay to teachers and other staff at Walnut Creek Elementary School and the Longview School.

Starting in the 2012-13 school year, grant money will be used to offer to staff signing bonuses and bonuses based on student performance. A similar merit pay program, also using grant money, is offered at four Wake elementary schools.

Walnut Creek is getting the program because it's a high-poverty school in Southeast Raleigh. But unlike the Longview School, an alternative school in East Raleigh, Walnut Creek's staff won't have to reapply to keep their jobs at the school.

The vote for Longview was 8-1 with only board member Jim Martin, a critic of bonus pay programs, voting no. Board member Susan Evans joined Martin in opposition to the 7-2 vote for starting the program at Walnut Creek.

Budgets and student assignment headline a long list of items on today's Wake County school board agenda.

 As noted in today's article, during the work session, staff will present recommended changes to the assignment plan based on the results of the first round of the choice selection process. The board has scheduled a vote on changes for the regular meeting.

Chief Transformation Officer Judy Peppler previously told the board they may recommend adjustments in four areas: whether seat set-asides should be allocated for some or all of the high-performing schools, the percentage of magnet vs. base students at some schools, options for students whose feeder doesn't include transportation and sibling priority in grades 1-5, 7-8 and 10-12.

Wake County school administrators want to offer signing bonuses and performance pay to teachers at Walnut Creek Elementary School and the Longview School.

The school board will vote Tuesday on using $442,000 from the Race to the Top grant for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years to start Walnut Creek's bonus plan. The new plan would help Walnut Creek "be able to hire and retain the most capable staff members in all positions."

Some critics had argued it was unfair to offer the bonuses at the four Renaissance Schools but not at Walnut Creek when they have similar demographics.

The board will also vote on using $425,000 from a School Improvement Grant to fund the bonus plan at Longview for the next two school years. The plan calls for Longview, which is an alternative school, to "reconstruct" its staff, meaning some current teachers might not return to the school in the fall.

Wake County's two new single-gender leadership academies are undergoing some changes before they open the doors for the 2012-13 school year.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Wake is now looking at partnering with Peace University to house both schools on their campus. The earlier plan was to have the male academy at the Longview School site and the female school at Raleigh Charter High's former space at Pilot Mill.

Wake will now only require that ninth-graders take Junior ROTC instead of having all grades in the program.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition may not officially be endorsing any Wake County school board candidates, but it's arguably come out with a last-minute attempt to try to sway voters.

In a press release today, GSIW contends that the school board majority has wasted taxpayers $113.5 million since December 2009. How much of the items on this GSIW list would be considered waste could be debated.

“For almost two years, the Board majority has exhibited a lack of fiscal responsibility to taxpayers with ill-conceived, hastily made decisions,” said GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon in the press release. "“When items are brought up for discussion by Board minority members who have repeatedly asked for supporting data, their reasonable requests are dismissed and multi-million dollar decisions are made without proper research, discussion of options, or the appropriate cost analysis.”

The number of non-magnet school options has been expanding under Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's watch.

As noted in today's article, Tata is now promoting a pair of single-gender leadership academies, a science academy and the Hilburn Elementary K-8 conversion. This along, with his STEM and Global Schools programs, have blurred the lines between magnet and non-magnet schools.

A big focus on Tuesday was the proposed creation of a leadership academy for male students and one for female students. School administrators touted their academic benefits.

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The Wake County school board announced tonight the hiring of two new senior  administrators and two new principals.

Sylvia Wilkins was named assistant superintendent of academics. The position used to be chief academic officer before it was downscaled after Donna Hargens left to become a superintendent in Kentucky.

Wilkins, who has been principal of Dillard Drive Elementary School since 2007, will report to the newly created but still unfilled position of deputy superintendent for school performance.