The Wake County school board announced one principal appointment tonight and filled a new central office position.

Hilton Trent Evans will become principal of Reedy Creek Middle School in Cary with a salary of $93,422. He has been principal of Reedy Creek Elementary since 2007.

Ruth Steidinger was appointed to the new position of senior director of academic programming and support. She's currently senior director of middle school programs.

Information wasn't immediately available about the new position, which board member Jim Martin cited for him voting no.

In a blast from the past, Bill Fletcher is hoping to return to the Wake County school board by filling the vacant District 9 position.

Fletcher became the first, and at the moment still only, applicant on Friday for the Cary seat that Debra Goldman resigned from Feb. 1. Fletcher said in an interview Monday that he wants to bring his “institutional knowledge” to the at-times tumultuous school board and help build community support for public education

“I can’t do anything about what's in the past,” Fletcher said of the recent school board turmoil. “I can only contribute toward improving education for our kids and community.”

Some Wake County schools are seeing noticeable changes in their percentages of low-income students because of the student assignment changes adopted by the school board in February.

For instance, Davis Drive Elementary's percentage of students receiving federally subsidized lunches fell from 18.9 percent last year to 6.6 percenet this year. For Reedy Creek Elementary, it rose from 41.4 percent last year to 53.3 percent this year.

This came after the board moved what was projected to be 175 students from Davis Drive to to Reedy Creek, Combs and Smith elementary schools. The moves were supposed to to be proximity related so students would attend a closer school.

The newly adopted Wake County student reassignment plan could help produce some sharp changes this fall in the percentages of students receiving subsidized lunches at some schools.

This handout was presented by staff at Tuesday's school board meeting following a request by school board member Anne McLaurin. During the votes on the individual items, the Democrats often cited the changes in the F&R rates for them voting no.

For instance, the Walnut Creek feeder pattern moves are projected to increase Southeast Raleigh High's F&R rate from 40.2 percent this year to 50.3 percent this fall.

The Wake County school board expanded the potential scope of the 2011-12 student reassignment plan but still have a lot more to discuss.

As noted in today's article, the board agreed to add for consideration a number of moves not recommended for staff for next year. These are among a list of deferred moves that were brought up in the spring.

That includes the Middle Creek to Garner High moves advocated by board member John Tedesco. Board members took the approach that they'd rather send notice to parents they're considering the moves so as to get input over the next month.

UPDATE

Wake will send notices to parents if they're in the nodes added for consideration on Tuesday. But if you want to check now, click here to find out your node number to see if you're affected.

Is the Wake County school board's student assignment committee moving too quickly to make changes to the draft assignment map?

As noted in today's article, the committee voted 2-1 to approve changes Tuesday affecting more than 4,200 students. School board member John Tedesco, chairman of the committee, said they wanted to prove to the public that the lines in the map are fluid.

Tedesco said he also wanted to take care of obvious problems such as zone lines that divide neighborhoods.

Will there be any money saved from school transportation costs if the Wake County school system abandons the socioeconomic diversity policy?

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, supporters of scrapping the policy are predicting that going to community-based schools will lead to savings. But supporters of the diversity policy are skeptical about savings and warn that it could cost more to have transportation under community-based schools.

Wake says $45 million of its $56 million transportation budget comes from the state.

This is not an April Fool's Joke.

Forest Pines Elementary School will not be on an enrollment cap for the 2009-10 school year even though that's what staff had recommended last week. It seems they made a mistake.

Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney told school board members on Tuesday that he had used the wrong cap number for Forest Pines in basing his recommendation.

Staff is recommending keeping the enrollment caps at Cedar Fork and Forest Pines elementary schools for the upcoming school year.

Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney told the school board this week that the growth in the base at both schools will be too great for the caps are lifted. Once again, this means new people who move into either school's attendance area will be sent to a more distant school that has the space.

Leaving the caps in place will have repercussions for people who opt out of year-round schools.