More to come later, but the Wake County school board approved tonight the 2013-14 bell schedules.

The board approved a few changes from this document presented two weeks ago. The revised plan now means 17 schools are shifting for this fall, with six shifting by 30 or more minutes.

The new changes include starting Walnut Creek Elementary at 9:15 a.m., ending a program in which it operated 45 minutes longer than other elementary schools. The plan also starts the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy.

The board also dropped a change to Baucom Elementary School.

UPDATE

Click here to view the 2013-14 bell schedules adopted by the school board.

The Wake County school system is looking for public feedback on the proposed bell schedule changes for the 2013-14 school year.

Parent can go here to view the proposal and here to provide online feedback. The school board wants feedback before the March 19 vote.

During Tuesday's school board meeting, Bob Snidemiller, senior director of transportation, said they left 91 percent of schools unchanged to provide consistency. He said they're proposing changes at 15 schools to promote transportation efficiency.

The Wake County school board is going to fight it out in the General Assembly against the county commissioners over proposed legislative changes.

As noted in today's article, members of the school board's Democratic majority objected to the legislative changes backed by the GOP majority on the county commissioners. The school board will fight letting commissioners take over ownership of schools, give money to help charter schools build facilities and their support for adding at-large school board seats.

Democratic board members said they were defending the school system by hiring a lobbyist to oppose the commissioners' 2013 state legislative agenda.

The former YWCA building could turn into a new Wake County elementary school as opposed to future expansion space for the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners voted this afternoon to approve the $1 million purchase of the YWCA building that had been requested by the school board. The commissioners also approved reallocating money for renovations for the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy and to modify the MOU for the CTE high school.

But it was the vote over the YWCA building that was the most contentious decision. Approval came on a 4-3 vote when Republican Commissioner Joe Bryan joined the Democrats in voting yes.

Much of today's Wake County Commissioners meeting will be focused on school issues.

Commissioners will vote on an amendment that will give them until Dec. 5 to work out the construction details for the new career and technical education high school. Instead of a lease-purchase, the plan being considered now is to outright purchase the former Coca-Cola bottling facility on South Wilmington Street.

Commissioners will also have second readings on purchasing the former YWCA building for a school site and reallocating money for renovations for the two single-sex leadership academies. Commissioners raised issues at the last meeting.

You've also got the 2012 State of the County Address, where school issues will likely be an element. You could hear talk about school funding and the school bond issue.

It may be a tough sell for the Wake County school system to get county commissioners to approve funding for the single-sex leadership academies and the purchase of the former YWCA building.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Republican commissioners wanted more details before approving use of $1.657 million to renovate the former Thompson School as the site of the Wake Young Men’s Leadership Academy. There were also questions about using $2.9 million to renovate buildings at the Gov. Morehead School for use by the Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

But there seemed to be an especially heavy dose of skepticism about spending $1.1 million to buy the former YWCA building on Hargett Street.

Of the 20 speakers signed up for tonight's public comment session, nearly all the speakers at the Wake County school board meeting want to talk about the two single-sex leadership academies.

A large number of students and parents from the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy are in the audience. Speakers want to talk about approving the schematic designs for renovations for the two schools and the lease for the WYMLA to stay at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind.

Some families at the two schools are worried that the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata, who was a big backer of the program, could jeopardize the future of the program.

UPDATE

The board agreed to spend $3.4 million to renovate the former Thompson School in downtown Raleigh so the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy can relocate there next year.

The board approved spending $4.7 million to renovate part of the campus of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind that's housing the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy.

Before the votes, board member Jim Martin spoke to the students about issues such as the need to explain to others why school diversity is valuable and that per-pupil funding shouldn't be cut.  Students had talked about the diversity at the all-application school.

After the closed session tonight, the board voted to authorize negotiating a 20-year lease with the Morehead School to house the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy.

The battle for state schools superintendent has some notable parallels with the Wake County school board's decision in 2010 over to who to hire as superintendent.

As noted in today's article, State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson, the Democratic incumbent, points to her career as an educator to argue she should get a third term. But Wake County school board member John Tedesco, her Republican challenger, argues that what's not needed is someone like Atkinson who has been part of the "Raleigh education establishment since 1976."

Similar issues were raised in 2010 when the Republican majority on the Wake school board opted to hire Tony Tata, a retired Army general, as superintendent over a career educator. Member of the Democratic board majority, who fired Tata on Sept. 25, had resisted efforts to make it possible for non-educators to hold the position.

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 start of the single-sex school era in the Wake County school system officially begins today.

The Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy are holding their first day of classes under the glare of media attention. Superintendent Tony Tata, who along with school board vice chairman Keith Sutton has been among the most outspoken supporters of starting single-gender schools, will be touring both academies.

Both schools, which will offer students the chance to graduate from high school with two years of college credit, attracted a lot of parental interest. Concerns that the enrollment at the two schools would emulate their counterparts in Greensboro and be largely black have apparently turned out to be unfounded.

UPDATE

Click here for the article that appeared in Tuesday's paper on the opening of the academies.