Is 190 extra teaching months of employment enough to deal with sharply underenrolled Wake County schools this fall?

The issue came up during last week's school budget discussion when school board member Jim Martin asked how staff determined which schools would get new STEM and Global Schools programs for this fall.

Martin said that the new student assignment plan is projected to result in 33 elementary schools being below 60 percent of their projected kindergarten capacity. Based on the data, Martin asked why some schools that were less underenrolled got the new programs.

As expected, Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata faced a steady stream of questions about the new student assignment plan at today's press conference.

Tata blamed many of the problems giving parents the schools they want on what he called the old assignment plan’s failure to control crowding in the district. He said the new plan’s efforts to adhere to strict capacity limits created “friction points.”

“Our assessment right now is that the plan has worked for the vast majority of the county,” Tata said. “But it’s also shone a very bright spotlight on where we have some proximity capacity issues and we intend to address the near-term issues immediately as best we can. This is the first step in developing a sustainable long-term plan for this county.”

Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata will attempt to turn the focus today  to the school district's STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) program.

Tata is holding his weekly press briefing this morning at Southeast Raleigh High School, where it's expected that most of the questions from the media will be about the new student assignment plan and Peace University backing out of the leadership academies. But Tata is holding the event at Southeast Raleigh to highlight Saturday's first ever countywide STEM expo.

After the press conference, school administrators are encouraging reporters to remain at the school "for interviews and video/photo opportunities of STEM programs at work in the classroom."

With two days to go before the end of round 2, we've got two new development today in the Wake County student assignment story.

Wake announced that Jeffreys Grove Elementary will get a Spanish immersion program. Lincoln Heights Elementary, Weatherstone Elementary, East Cary Middle, and North Garner Middle will get STEM programs and Forestville Road Elementary will join the Global Schools Collaborative Network.

Also today, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition announced the start of its "Let's Find A Better Way" campaign. GSIW is calling for the development of a new student assignment plan which would essentially take the old node-based plan and address some of the more common complaints.

Have schools in the U.S. and in the Wake County school system drained creativity from students and become too focused on standardized testing?

As noted in today's article, the high-stakes testing culture came under criticism at Wednesday's announcement that the Wake County school system has received grants from LEGO. It was repeatedly touted how the use of LEGO products to promote problem-solving skills can counter how traditional education is draining creativity away from students.

Muriel Summers, principal of Combs, told the audience that her “aha!” moment came nearly five years ago shortly after the schools began using LEGO as a teaching tool. She said a student using the LEGO blocks told her “thank you for letting us use our imagination.”

Six Wake County schools will benefit from a new education program launched by LEGO Education that will promote the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concept.

LEGO Education North America and the Education Blueprint Association are giving the Wake County school system two $40,000 grants with the district providing a matching $80,000. Wake is receiving two of the 14 regional centers for the LEGO Smart Schools program.

The money will allow three Raleigh schools (Combs Elementary, Centennial Campus Middle and Athens Drive High) and three Knightdale schools (Hodge Road Elementary, East Wake Middle and Knightdale High) to receive special hands-on programs from LEGO.

More details about what the schools will receive will be unveiled at a presentation this morning at Combs.

Wake County school board member Chris Malone is touting what he's done for Eastern Wake in his bid to win the state House 35 seat.

One of the school board accomplishments that Malone points to on his campaign website is the nixing of the Forest Ridge High School site in Raleigh in favor of Rolesville High. While hotly debated at the time, Rolesville High is set to open in August 2013.

"Mr. Malone was elected in 2009 to the Wake County School Board, where he has been working to bring Community Schools and sorely needed programs and equitable treatment to Eastern Wake County," says Malone's website. "Amongst his efforts that were brought to pass were the Student Assignment program, the moving of a high school from Raleigh to Rolesville, and the opening of two STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) schools."

President Barack Obama invited a broad spectrum of established and budding scientists to the White House for a science fair, including some people with North Carolina ties.

When one of the student presenters -- an eighth-grader from Arizona named Joey -- displayed his air cannon, the president couldn't resist learning more.

And when the president learned the air cannon could fire marshmallows up to 176 feet, he talks Joey into firing the cannon. Indoors. In the White House.

The rest, as they say, is presidential history -- and a potential Secret Service headache.

So how are the various Wake County elementary and middle schools putting their money for small schools, Global Schools and STEM programs to use?

As noted in this Sunday North Raleigh News article by Chelsea Kellner, the principals at the schools getting the extra resources say they are busy solidifying the programs in each school's culture.

Those getting small schools money now have additional staff and full-time art, music and PE specialists. Previously, they only had enough funding to bring those specialists in three or four days a week.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata announced today the names of eight of the 10 schools that will get special academic programs for the 2011-12 school year to make them more attractive to parents.

Tata said that Hilburn Drive, York and Aversboro elementary schools, Carroll Middle School and Knightdale High School will receive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs.

Tata announced that Timber Drive, Jeffreys Grove and Stough elementary schools will receive Global Schools programs that will include things such as greater emphasis on teaching foreign languages.

UPDATE

In case I didn't make it clear in my budget post, Tata said today that he has no plans to cut back on the new STEM schools and Global Schools even in the face of deeper than projected state funding cuts.