Should the Wake County school board reallocate money from the last bond issue to pay for upgrading Athens Drive High School's athletic stadium improvements or continue to leave it as part of the next construction program?

The Athens Drive community has been in an uproar since Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble questioned at last week's joint meeting including the project as part of the next capital improvement program. Parents spoke at Monday's commissioners meeting about why they felt the project needs to be funded.

Coble's response Monday was to question a request from the school system to reallocate money from the 2006 capital improvement program. He suggested the school board tap into that fund instead to pay for Athens Drive.

More to come later, but the security topic that got the most discussion at today's Wake County school board facilities committee meeting was the practicality of setting up a buzzer system at all elementary schools.

Staff assured the board that there would be people in the front office to promptly answer when visitors buzz to try to get into what would now become the locked front doors of elementary schools. Staff also told the board that the office personnel would be trained in who to let inside.

There was also some discussion about having a networked visitor sign-in system at all 169 schools. Only 27 schools have the LobbyGuard system with other schools having a free system that staff said doesn't meet security needs.

UPDATE

Click here for the story from the committee meeting..

The 2013-14 student assignment plan is now becoming more real for Wake County families.

Between today and Monday, currently enrolled students will receive their initial notice of school assignment for the upcoming school year. This notice grandfathers students at their current schools with their current transportation unless they're reassigned to one of the three new schools — Richland Creek Elementary, Rolesville Middle and Rolesville High.

The notice will have rising sixth- and ninth-graders being assigned to their base schools. This means that magnet students will have to submit an application, whose approval will be guaranteed, to stay in the program, and that people who want the choice plan feeders will need to request it in the first transfer period.

For families who've been oblivious to the recent student assignment discussion, the notices could be a rude surprise.

The procession of unhappy Wake County parents continued at Wednesday night's student assignment public hearing.

As noted in today's article by Colin Campbell, the meeting's location at Rolesville Middle School meant that several northern Wake parents objected to being assigned to the new schools. At the prior two hearings held in other parts of the county, only one of those affected parents spoke out.

For instance, Pamela Page of Wake Forest objected to sending her children to the modular campus being used by Richland Creek Elementary. She wants her children to stay at Jones Dairy Elementary.

Wake County school board member Susan Evans has apologized, with a caveat, to having yanked the microphone away from colleague Deborah Prickett on Wednesday.

As noted in today's article, Evans called Prickett to apologize for having grabbed the microphone out of her hands. But Evans, along with fellow board member Jim Martin, contend that Prickett was out of order for having polled the crowd at the student assignment hearing if they're satisfied with the choice plan.

"I certainly want to admit that taking the microphone away from Mrs. Prickett was not an appropriate way to deal with her violation of the rules of order," Evans said.

Is it possible that the next Wake County school construction bond issue might not go on the ballot until 2015?

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Wake County Commissioners Chairman Paul Coble said Monday he couldn't promise that a bond issue will be on the 2013 ballot. He said it would be a mistake to put a bond before the public until the school board resolves uncertainty about student assignment and who will take over permanently for fired Superintendent Tony Tata.

“There are things that have to happen before we move forward,” Coble said during an interview after his state of the county address. “The voters are not happy with the school board.”

Somewhat unexpectedly, the Wake County school system posted the full draft 2013-14 student assignment plan online in advance of Tuesday's school board presentation.

As noted in today's article, this document shows that the plan recommends reassigning 1,479 students, most of whom would go to three "new" schools: Richland Creek Elementary, Rolesville Middle and Rolesville High.

For the second year in a row, staff is recommending delaying the opening of  Abbotts Creek Elementary. The document doesn't say why, but some families have balked at the thought of going to a modular school whose funding isn't in place for the permanent building.

You can take a glass is half empty or half full view of Wake County student assignment in the short term.

As noted in today's article, the good news for families in the immediate future is that the 2013-14 plan is expected to have relatively few reassignments. But it's very much a transitional plan with a new plan to be developed for the 2014-15 school year that's likely to include a lot more reassignments for things such as promoting balance in student achievement and socioeconomic diversity.

"We were looking at trying to give the staff and the parents a respite so we could have the larger discussion that it seems like we’re trying to have right now, that we could have the larger discussion to put together a sustainable assignment plan," said board chairman Kevin Hill.

The Wake County school board's facilities committee will meet today for the first time since the departures of Superintendent Tony Tata and Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Don Haydon.

One of the topics will be start up design for the next school bond issue. Also on the agenda is the schematic design for Cary High School's renovations and geothermal heating and cooling system that would be built at Richland Creek Elementary's permanent campus.

But overshadowing all of these things is the impact recent changes in Wake school leadership will have on the planning for a school construction program and bond in 2013.

After a week of tearing into each other, Wake County school board members finally found something they could agree on Thursday night.

As noted in today's article, Republican and Democratic board members unanimously agreed to scrap the 2013-14 draft assignment maps in favor of going to the 2011-12 base maps. The fact they were agreeing drew several mentions and jokes at the board table.

The change occurred when board member Jim Martin interrupted the discussion of how the draft maps would affect the percentages of low-income students next year.

UPDATE

The 2011-12 base address lookup feature is still up. Click here to view.

If you don't remember what the pre-choice plan maps looked like in 2011-12, click here to refresh your memory. The link puts you on Wake's school directory page. Pick a school and then click on its assignment tab. Under the assignment tab you'll find a link to a PDF map for the 2011-12 base assignment area.

If you live near Rolesville High, Rolesville Middle, Richland Creek Elementary's permanent campus off US 1 in Wake Forest near the Franklin County line or Abbott Creek Elementary's permanent campus near the North Wake Landfill you can expect you might be added to their base areas.

Also, if you live in Panther Creek High's base look for change as you're reassigned to Green Hope High since they're not using a standalone ninth-grade center for PCHS.

The board agreed with the stay where you start rules proposed in the draft plan so you'd be able to grandfather if you're an existing student.