Wayne County school officials have put the brakes on a cash for grades fundraising effort at a Goldsboro middle school.

The school district reacted to today's article by Lynn Bonner, in which she reported that a $20 donation to Rosewood Middle School would have gotten a student 20 test points — 10 extra points on two tests of the student's choosing. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D.

Are any individual schools in Orange County following similar policies? Or any other sort of classroom incentives to reward fundraising?

E-mail me or post a comment.

Orange County Schools will present its annual financial audit report and individual school improvement plans to the board of education tonight.

The board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the school system's headquarters, located at 200 E. King St. in Hillsborough.

This is the board's only meeting this month. View the full agenda for tonight's meeting here.

The state's Department of Public Instruction released School Report Cards for districts and individuals schools late last week.

Each school's report card can be viewed at www.ncreportcards.org. You can click to view details on each school district and individual schools in categories like technology usage, funding, test scores, suspensions and teacher quality.

It's a quite interesting and comprehensive read. In addition to the standard testing reports, you can also check out how many of your school's computers have Internet access, or how many teachers have advanced degrees.

The Orange County Special Education PTA will meet for the first time this week.

Following this summer's court battle concerning the education of a student with autism (which is still ongoing - visit the mother's blog for updates), some parents say this group couldn't come soon enough.

The meeting will take place Thursday from 6 to 6:30 p.m. at AL Stanback Middle School's media center, 3200 NC 86 South in Hillsborough.

The introductory meeting will be immediately followed by a parent information session on public health funding programs for special needs children, which will last until 8:30 p.m.

Both school systems in Orange County were honored Monday for having high graduation rates.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools received recognition at a state ceremony held by the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh. State Superintendent June Atkinson and former govenor Jim Hunt presented the honors.

North Carolina's overall graduation rate is 71.7 percent. At Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the overall rate for their student cohort was 86.7 percent; in Orange County Schools, the rate was 81.4 percent for the class of 2009.

The student cohort rate tracks the progress of all students who enter districts in the ninth grade.

The principal of Gravelly High Middle School, Jason Johnson, has been named the Orange County Schools' 2010 Wachovia Principal of the Year.

Johnson has been the principal since the school opened in 2006. Over the past three years, Gravelly Hill has shown a decrease in the achievement gap and a 20 percent improvement in both math and reading scores, according to the school system.

"This is not my award. This belongs to the students, teachers, cafeteria staff, office staff, every community and everyone who works at Gravelly Hill," said Johnson, in a release.

Tutoring sessions offered by the Hillsborough Police Department and UNC Habitat for Humanity will start Sept. 14.

The free tutoring is available to students in Orange County Schools. Sessions take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. every Monday and Tuesday at the Community Policing Substation, 501 Rainey Ave. Tutors will be students from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Monday sessions will be for students in kindergarten through fifth grades, and Tuesday sessions will be for those in grades 6-12. Sessions will be limited to about 15 students. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Police Department and UNC Habitat began offering free tutoring during the last school year.

For more information or to register, contact Cpl. Tereasa King at 732-2441 Ext. 26.

Just like I did for Chapel Hill-Carrboro last week, I'm posting some of the state budget reduction numbers for Orange County Schools. These were just released at last night's school board meeting. It's purely informational - the board won't vote on a finalized budget plan until its Sept. 8 meeting.

Click "Read More" to get a rundown of some of the major highlights:

The story I wrote this week about one family's struggle to receive special education services they wanted for their autistic son received a lot of attention.

I'll compile some of that feedback for a different post soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to post a public statement from Orange County Schools given to the N&O today.

The school district is unable to comment on specific children because of federal and state confidentiality laws, but some of the language of the release is interesting. It mentions "the student's parents were adamant about the confidentiality of the student's information during the course of the case."

Further, it states, "As always, there are two sides to every story."

We'll be following the appeal as it proceeds (just read on the mother's blog that an appeal was filed today but have not confirmed that with the school's lawyers) and delving into other special education issues in the meantime.

The full release after the jump.

From staff writer Anne Blythe:

An Orange County school board member charged in November with driving under the influence of alcohol told his board colleagues several weeks ago about the incident.

But so far, Ted Triebel, 67, the member accused of the misdemeanor, has offered few words for the public. “Yes I was involved with a single-car accident on Nov. 5,” Triebel has said. “Yes I was charged with DUI, which I regret.”

Triebel, reached Friday at his Rougemont home, declined to discuss the incident beyond his statement.

He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 24.

According to a citation issued by N.C. State Highway Patrol trooper M.S. Melvin, Triebel was involved in a single-car accident along Guess Road in northeastern Orange County on Nov. 5 while driving his 1995 Honda. Although the trooper said he smelled alcohol on Triebel, he did not do a breath test, but instead had blood drawn at Duke Hospital for testing at the SBI labs.

We'll have more on this story in Wednesday's Chapel Hill News.