It looks like fears that Wake County's two new single-sex leadership academies would become predominantly African American schools have turned out to be unfounded.

Figures released last week by the district show that white students are projected to have a plurality at both leadership academies. Critics of the academies had raised concerns that Wake's schools are modeled on two largely black single-sex schools in Guilford County.

Wake's data shows that the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy's enrollment is projected to be 42 percent white, 27 percent black, 13 percent Asian and 11 percent Hispanic. The school will also have 43 percent of its students receiving federally subsidized lunches.

A coalition of liberal groups is urging the Wake County school system to halt plans to open a pair of single-sex leadership academies next year.

In this memorandum sent Thursday to Wake Superintendent Tony Tata and school board members, the groups argue that approval of the academies was rushed through without enough input or review. The groups also oppose having single-sex schools and the requirement that students at the academies participate in the Junior ROTC program.

“Instead of spending precious funds on the proposed single-sex academies, spend them on improving and expanding alternative educational programs for struggling students,” says the memo.

The memo was signed by the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, Advocates for Children’s Services, the YWCA of the Greater Triangle, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, the North Carolina chapter of the ACLU and CHOICES — a group that’s criticized JROTC programs.

Wake County's two new single-gender leadership academies are undergoing some changes before they open the doors for the 2012-13 school year.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Wake is now looking at partnering with Peace University to house both schools on their campus. The earlier plan was to have the male academy at the Longview School site and the female school at Raleigh Charter High's former space at Pilot Mill.

Wake will now only require that ninth-graders take Junior ROTC instead of having all grades in the program.

The Wake County school board moved one high school principal to Central Office this evening and transferred another principal to a different school.

John Williams, the principal of Middle Creek High School in Cary, was appointed senior director for high school education. The job became open after Ruth Steidinger switched to being senior director for middle school education.

Williams opened Middle Creek in 2001 and will leave the school on Nov. 1. Thomas Dixon will serve as interim principal at Middle Creek, Dixon, the former longtime principal of Apex High School, will receive a salary that's equivalent to $131,580 a year.