The Wake County school board approved tonight the concept of creating a new career and technical education high school.

The vote was on the concept only because the opening of the school has been pushed back a year to the 2014-15 school year. Staff says the proposed location at the  Coca-Cola Bottling Facility on 2200 S. Wilmington St. won't be ready for the 2013-14 school year.

The details for the program, such as which grades would be served, how students will be selected and whether it would be a half-day or full-day program, still haven’t been finalized yet. School administrators will come back to the school board with details on funding and the programming at the school.

The Coalition of Concerned Concerned Citizens for African American Children is backing creation of a new career and technical education high school for Wake County, but is also saying they "are concerned about how this program is being designed and implemented."

In this press release sent late Monday, the CCCAAC questions whether the former Coca-Coca Bottling factory on Wilmington Street is the right location. The group asks "would the Gov. Morehead site be better, or perhaps a site closer to eastern Wake?"

Using the Gov. Morehead School could prevent it from also housing students from the single-sex leadership academies, a program that CCCAAC has opposed.

Student assignment, the new vocational/CTE high school and the school budget are among the issues that the Wake County school board will deal with today.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the budget May 1 so today's work session discussion will likely indicate what direction the spending document will take. Staff has said they'd want to know ahead of May 1 if the board wants any major changes made to the proposal.

The board will also discuss during the work session before voting in the regular meeting whether to approve partnering with Wake Technical Community College to start the new career and technical education high school for the 2013-14 school year.

But what will likely generate the most media attention today is the discussion on the student assignment plan, including adopting the transfer policy and any changes to the plan itself.

More to come later, but it looks like they'll scale back the grades that would be eligible to attend the proposed new Wake County career and technical education high school.

After receiving this presentation (check the end of this handout), several Wake County school board members said they'd support limiting the school to juniors and seniors and possibly sophomores. Board members said it's not realistic to expect that freshmen would be ready to decide on a track that would send them to the workforce and not college.

Staff wants the school board to vote on the proposal on April 24. This would allow them to have the school ready for the 2013-14 school year.

One question that still needs to be resolved is whether the school should be a full-day standalone program or split into morning and afternoon sessions so two different groups could attend.

The official public hearing on Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's budget proposal will take place tomorrow after all.

An earlier district media advisory had said the hearing would be at the March 27 school board meeting. But a revised district media advisory and the official board agenda lists the public hearing for Tuesday.

During the work session, the board will receive a "school innovation update," which is the catch phrase for a presentation on housing the leadership academies at Peace University and the Gov. Morehead School for the Blind and the CTE high school at the former Coca-Cola bottling factory.

The discussion could result in the leases being added to the regular meeting agenda.

More to come later, but details were unveiled today for a proposed vocational high school that would be run under a partnership of the Wake County school system and Wake Technical Community College.

The career and technical education high school would open in August 2013 and offer courses in areas such as air conditioning, heating, refrigeration, biopharmaceuticals, collision repair, cosmetology, plumbing, game development and welding. Pending an approved lease, it would be located at the former Coca-Cola Bottling Facility at 2200 South Wilmington Street in Raleigh.

In addition to working with high school students, the facility would offer evening technical courses for adults.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR HANDOUT ABOUT CTE HIGH SCHOOL

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told school board members today he needs their commitment to implement a $130.3 million construction program that includes two single-gender schools, the K-8 Hilburn Elementary project, a career and technical education school and a science academy.

Tata said he's been talking with multiple groups on the various innovative projects. But he said he needs the board's support now to show others Wake is serious with implementation.

“We need to demonstrate the board’s commitment to those people we’re dealing with daily," Tata said.

UPDATE

Earlier, a motion was defeated 5-4 on party lines to have separate votes on the single-sex schools and the Hilburn Elementary conversion.

Is this finally the time that the Wake County school system will beef up its vocational education programs?

As noted in today's article, the $130.3 million capital program the school board will vote on today includes exploring the feasibility of establishing a career and technical education school for 2013.

Just about every school board election cycle, this one included, sees various candidates talk about setting up vocational schools for students who don't plan on going to college.

The magnet school program could become even more of a wedge issue between Wake County school board candidates Cynthia Matson and Jim Martin in the District 5 race.

In an interview last week on the Rick & Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Matson said the biggest difference between her and Martin is their views on "equity from district to district in terms of program offerings." She said "we need to focus on equity across the board, from district to district, so students don't have be to bused to the other side of the county to get something they can not get in their own district."

"Right now If you look at the map and you look at where magnet schools are, and you look at outlying areas, you'll see that certain individuals have to travel a very, very far distance in order too benefit from some of the magnet programs," Matson said.

Wake County school board candidate Donna Williams probably isn't going to win over Enloe High School supporters based on her talk of spreading programs around.

Williams hit the local conservative radio talk show circuit this week starting as a guest co-host Tuesday on The Morning Show on WRDU. She touched on Enloe during an interview Wednesday on The Rick and Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, where she also said it's not a case of the school system needing more money to raise achievement.

"I believe we need a more fair and equitable balance in our schools," Williams said on WPTF. "I'll give you an example. Enloe High School right now has 142 magnet programs in that one school. And then we have a lot of schools in this county that have zero. I just think we need to take a look at that and if we balanced it out a lot better, it would then affect and help all of our children."

UPDATE I will now be back on Wednesday.