The new CTE high school and plans to relocate the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy to the former Thompson School building may finally being forward despite the recent bickering between the Wake County school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, the commissioners approved Monday this memorandum of understanding to lease the former Coca-Cola bottling facility in South Raleigh and renovate it for opening for the 2014-15 school year as the CTE school.

Now the school board will hold a public hearing today on the CTE high school and vote on a resolution requesting commissioners go ahead with the deal.

UPDATE

Amid concerns raised by some board members, a vote will be held Oct. 30 on whether the school should be open to sophomores, juniors and seniors or just juniors and seniors.

Costs are going up for Wake County's two new single-sex leadership academies while the delayed sale of the school system's office buildings is cutting into its ability to use its unspent bond money.

Last week, Don Haydon, Wake's chief facilities and operations officer, presented this handout of spending from the current school construction program showing they're projecting $5.1 million in savings. He said it's more than previously projected because they're able to get lower bids now for projects.

But before the board talks about how to spend that $5 million, Haydon said that they need to sell the district's vacated office buildings, including the former headquarters on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh.

The Wake County school board voted late Tuesday to lease the former Thompson School building in Raleigh to house the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy.

The school system will lease the building from Wake County for $1 per year. Once renovations are completed, students at the new single-sex school will relocate from their temporary home on Spring Forest Road next to East Millbrook Middle School in North Raleigh.

The Thompson School, located on 567 E. Hargett Street near downtown Raleigh, was closed in 1971. It was later turned over the county, which now houses several Human Services agencies that will relocate from the building.

Some parents have said the building should be used to house elementary school students to add additional capacity in downtown Raleigh. But that was ruled out because the cafeteria and gym are on the second floor, which would go against current state codes for elementary schools.

Plans are moving forward for the Wake County school system to try to reacquire the former Thompson School near downtown Raleigh.

Don Haydon, the school system's chief facilities and operations officer, asked the school board last week if he needed formal authorization to negotiate with county staff for the Thompson building. But board members told Haydon to just meet with county staff and report back to them on the status of the negotiations.

After the Thompson School closed in 1971, it was later acquired by Wake County. It now houses several Wake County Human Service agencies: Inner City MH Clinic, Drop In Center, Veterans Services, Forensic Team, McKinney Team,  Housing, Medicaid Eligibility.

The various agencies would need to leave for Wake to reconvert it back to a school. Wake has also been looking at reacquiring the former Crosby-Garfield School.

Is the key to meeting downtown Raleigh's school capacity needs to look to its past?

As noted in today's article, the Wake County school system is in preliminary talks about reacquiring and reopening the Thompson School and Crosby-Garfield School. Both schools, located in Southeast Raleigh near downtown, were declared surplus and turned over to the county a long time ago.

Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata said the new student assignment plan showed that they need to increase school capacity in and near downtown Raleigh.