Learn to embrace the new common core of standards that could result in a nationwide education curriculum.

Wake County school officials said today they will drop plans to add an additional 10 minutes to the school day as part of their effort to temporarily circumvent the new state requirement for a longer school year for students .

Instead, Wake will take advantage of the process set up Friday by the state Board of Education to get waivers without having to add the additional days or hours. Wake will request a waiver to provide teachers more training on the common core of standards.

The Wake County school board announced tonight they had replaced three principals who are part of a new program to help struggling schools and had also chosen a new leader for Southeast Raleigh High.

New principals were chosen for Barwell Road, Brentwood and Wilburn elementary schools while the principal of Creech Road Elementary was allowed to keep her job. They’re all part of the Renaissance Schools program, a new effort targeting additional resources at Wake’s four lowest-performing elementary schools.

The principals and teachers at the four Renaissance schools had to reapply if they wanted to keep their jobs, which comes with a hiring bonus and merit pay. Those who aren’t hired back or don’t want to stay are transferred to other schools.

SEE END OF POST FOR BIO SHEETS FOR THE PRINCIPALS

Here's some more details about the Renaissance Model being used to turn around the Wake County school system's four lowest performing elementary schools.

The quick description is that additional resources, including new technology, signing bonuses and performance bonuses, will be used at Barwell Road, Brentwood, Creech Road and Wilburn elementary schools. All four schools happen to have high poverty levels but they were chosen because their passing rates were below 60 percent on state exams last year.

The issue has gotten more attention this week because the school board voted Tuesday on a $950,000 a year bonus plan for the schools using federal Race to the Top money.

Wake County school board member Keith Sutton wants the school district to begin setting priorities for things to protect in the face of next year's budget crunch.

Sutton got the process started at last week's finance committee meeting, where he proposed ideas such as protecting pre-K funding, providing enough funding for alternative schools and improving the academic performance for African American male students.

Sutton said he's hoping the full school board will have a similar discussion on the issue.

You've got two weeks to press you case to Growth Management to suggest changes to the 2011-12 student assignment plan before it's presented to the Wake County school board.

Laura Evans, senior director for growth management, told board members on Tuesday that she wants input on changes by the Thanksgiving break to be able to incorporate them into the plan that will be presented Dec. 7.

Most of the suggestions will likely come from the community workshops being held next week. But Evans said people can also send e-mail to studentassignment@wcpss.net to suggest changes.

Wake County's share of the Race To the Top Grant could be used to reinvent four low-performing elementary schools.

Wake is slated to get $10.2 million over the next four years. Interim Superintendent Donna Hargens told board members today that administrators want to use the grant money for efforts such as teacher performance pay and additional technology at schools where lower than 60 percent of students are passing state exams.

This group now includes Barwell Road, Brentwood and Wilburn elementary schools in Raleigh and Creech Road Elementary School in Garner.

Some clarity about the Wake County student assignment process could emerge from Tuesday's school board work session.

The agenda for Tuesday's work session includes a discussion on student assignment. School board chairman Ron Margiotta said he's hoping the discussion about the new directive that was passed last week will answer the questions that board members have about how to proceed.

In addition to talking about the directive, Margiotta said they'll also discuss the equity presentation that was made at this week's student assignment committee meeting.

While the official word isn't expected until later today, it's pretty evident that the Wake County school system isn't winning a $10.3 million federal magnet school grant.

As noted in today's article, school board member John Tedesco confirmed through his congressional contacts that Wake isn't among the $100 million in grant recipients. It's what I'm hearing too.

What it means depends on your point of view.

UPDATE

It's official. Wake didn't win. Click here for the press release from the U.S. Department of Education.  To make it equivalent, it's $100 million this year but potentially up to $300 million over three years. Wake wanted $4 million in the first year for a total of $10.3 million over three years.

The budget news for next year is looking even bleaker for the Wake County school system.

Based on today's budget briefing from Chief Business Officer, the school district is staring at the loss of $100 million next year, including all the money from custodians and most of the money for clerical staff.

A big chunk of the lost money is from the end of federal stimulus dollars.

The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, won't be able to blame the Wake County school board majority any longer for North Carolina not winning the federal Race To The Top Grant.

As reported earlier today, North Carolina was named one of the 10 recipients for the grant and could receive up to $400 million. Wake, as the state's largest school district, will benefit from the grant.

It took North Carolina two shots to get the grant. After the first rejected application in March, Barber placed part of the blame on Wake abandoning the diversity policy.