There's an interesting mix of Wake County school administrators who are hearing this year's student transfer appeals.

You've got people such as former principals David Ansbacher, Virginia Cardenas and Darryl Fisher and Assistant Superintendent David Holdzkom. You've also got people who've never worked in a school such as Marilyn Moody, senior director for child nutrition; Betty Parker, director of real estate services; and Greg Thomas, director of communications.

The mix is deliberate. Each two-member panel consists of one person with school experience and one person with no school experience.

There's some good news for families today.

Don Haydon, chief facilities and operations officer, said today that Wake will not raise school meal prices for the upcoming school year. In December, staff had warned that increases would be likely for the 2009-10 school year.

“[Marilyn Moody, senior director for nutrition] thought this would not be the time to tax people with another meal increase," Haydon told the school board.

Haydon said that child nutrition will dip into its reserves again to make up for the deficit at the end of this fiscal year. 

If you missed last week's article, Wake may have to raise school breakfast and lunch prices.

Food and labor costs are going up, according to Marilyn Moody, senior director for child nutrition. She said there's also been a big drop in sales of a la carte items, the things that balance the budget.

But the reason that drew the most questions at a school board committee meeting earlier this month is that more families are applying for federally subsidized lunches.