Here's the quick recap of today's press conference held by Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata defended the proposed bell schedules changes as a way that will save money that can be put to better use in the classroom. But he also acknowledged parental concerns, pointing to the online survey that has generated 1,100 comments so far.

Tata also said today that, based on parental feedback, he'll talk with school board chairman Kevin Hill about taking another look at the deal to lease an office building to serve as a new Panther Creek High School ninth-grade center.

The board opted not to stick modular units on the site of a future middle school next to Alston Ridge Elementary School. While the office building at 3700 Pleasant Church Grove Road in Morrisville is further away from the high school, it can be ready for the 2012-13 school year.

UPDATE

Click here for the online story.

The Wake County school system's new online survey on the bell schedule proposal is now live

Click here to take the survey. The survey runs through 10 p.m. on Feb. 16.

Comments will be provided to school board members before they discuss the proposal again on Feb. 21.

It might not produce any changes in the proposed bell schedules for Wake County schools this fall, but look for a discussion Feb. 21 on the impact of school start times on high school students.

School board member John Tedesco wants staff to talk about the sleep study research that indicates it's better to have later start times for older students.

Also look for a discussion on traffic concerns raised by school board member Jim Martin that later start times for high school students could be dangerous.

Can the Wake County school system sell the public on the merits of the bell schedule changes for this fall?

As noted in today's article, school staff said the proposal would help Wake avoid $10 million in costs and revenue losses this fall. But school board members said it would take community outreach to explain it to parents why they're being asked to make changes of more than an hour in some cases.

"If we don't (do community outreach), we’re going to get thousands of calls and emails about this," said school board member John Tedesco.

UPDATE

Click here for the handout from the board meeting. It lists the proposed bell schedules.

Wake has fixed some errors with the individual school times from yesterday's handout. I've replaced the link with the new one. Wake made more corrections Thursday.

Could the Wake County school board decide after all to implement for this fall seat set-asides at the high-performing schools or lift the priority for students from low-performing nodes?

Both topics are part of the student assignment update that will be presented at the work session. Topics, according to the handout, include assignment priorities for displaced magnet students and the number of AG students accepted into sixth-grade at Ligon and Carnage middle schools.  

Also on the agenda, is a staff presentation to change the bell schedules for nearly all of the schools this fall.

UPDATE

The school board ran out of time to discuss the student assignment update.

Click here for the online story about the bell schedule proposal.

How much is it worth, in terms of dollars and potential negative impact on the magnet school program, to reduce bus ride times in Wake County?

Bob Snidemiller, senior director of transportation, told school board members last week that they could reduce more bus ride times for non-magnet students to 45 minutes or less. But it would require buying more buses.

The number of new buses needed would depend on whether all magnet routes were switched to express runs, something the new majority would likely not back.

We can now officially say that the Wake County school system won't have to require students to spend five more days in class this fall.

Wake was among the 77 waiver requests for the 2011-12 school year approved this week by State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson. The school districts said that in lieu of requiring students to spend five more days in school they'd use the time to train teachers on the new core curriculum standards.

Learn to embrace the new common core of standards that could result in a nationwide education curriculum.

Wake County school officials said today they will drop plans to add an additional 10 minutes to the school day as part of their effort to temporarily circumvent the new state requirement for a longer school year for students .

Instead, Wake will take advantage of the process set up Friday by the state Board of Education to get waivers without having to add the additional days or hours. Wake will request a waiver to provide teachers more training on the common core of standards.

It looks like Wake County students won't have to be in school for an additional 10 minutes a day this fall.

The state Board of Education agreed today on a process that will allow school districts to get a waiver from adding the additional five days of instruction for the 2011-12 school year. School districts would have to show how they're using those five days as teacher workdays to enhance student achievement.

Perhaps just as importantly for Wake parents, attorneys for the state Board said districts couldn't be required to add in the additional 25 hours of instruction to get waiver. They said district either had to have 185 days and 1,025 hours or waivers had to be granted for both.

Wake County parents and school officials could have a better handle on Friday on whether school will be extended by 10 minutes a day this fall and whether a state waiver will be granted.

As noted in today's article, the state Board of Education will hold a conference call meeting at 11:30 a.m. Friday to discuss how to handle waivers and implementation o the new 185-day school calendar for 2011-12. You can go to www.ncpublicschools.org/stateboard/meetings/ to access the link for this meeting.

While no decisions are expected to be made on individual waivers on Friday, the meeting should tell districts what parameters would be followed for granting requests.