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.

Magnet schools, the new career and technical education high school and a curriculum audit are on the agenda for today's Wake County school board student achievement committee meeting.

Staff will give an update on the federal magnet school grant that Wake will seek. This could include info on the themes for Fox Road, Green and Poe elementary schools and Carroll and Moore Square middle schools.

Staff will also provide information on the program offerings for the CTE high school that Wake hopes to open in 2014. The school board has officially asked county commissioners to acquire the former Coca-Cola facility in South Raleigh.

Commissioners Chairman Paul Coble has asked the school board to pass a resolution committing to the CTE high school for at least seven years before commissioners would consider acquiring the site.

The firing of Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata has resulted in joint meetings between the school board and county commissioners on the next school bond issue being put on hold.

In this letter dated Friday, Board of Commissioner Paul Coble writes to school board chairman Kevin Hill that there's "no reason" now to hold the joint meetings until the commissioners get resolution on issues that have been put "up in the air" by Tata's firing.

Coble wants the school board to pass a resolution on the new/revised student assignment plan. He also wants the school board to pass resolutions affirming their support, for at least the next seven years, for the  Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and for the CTE high school.

UPDATE

Click here for the article in Tuesday's paper.

Members of the Republican majority on the Wake County Board of Commissioners could have some tough questions today for school officials about funding the new career technical education high school.

It's not that the commissioners think the CTE high school is a bad idea. In fact, they like the idea of setting up a high school for Wake County students to get training in skills in case they don't plan to go to college.

But Republican commissioners who've criticized the Democratic school board majority's firing of Superintendent Tony Tata could begin to show their public skepticism of the school system's actions. Signs of that were shown in various media interviews on Tuesday.

Relations between the two boards could get colder in the next few months as school construction bond issues and school funding are discussed.

How high a priority should there be getting the new Wake County career and technical education high school online for the 2014-15 school year?

As noted in today's article, the school board passed this resolution on Tuesday asking the county commissioners to acquire, renovate and outfit a former Coca-Cola bottling plant in South Raleigh for use as the new CTE school.

If the commissioners opt to help with the funding then it could still open in August 2014. If not, the opening would come after 2014 or not at all.

The Wake County school board is now putting the fate of a proposed career and technical education high school in the hands of the county commissioner.

After meeting in closed session tonight, the school board amended the agenda to pass a resolution calling on the commissioners to acquire, renovate and outfit the former Coca-Cola Bottling site on 2200 South Wilmington St. in Raleigh to make it a CTE high school.

The resolution says the school board wants the new school ready in August 2014. It would add 700 seats for high school students and 1,000 seats for Wake Technical Community College, which would be the school district's partner for the school.

The opening of the school has stalled over how to come up with the money for the project. At one point the idea was to lease the property.

Wake County school administrators highlighted Thursday the various programs that are in place to provide unique academic offerings to the district's schools.

Historically, the magnet schools program has been the way that Wake schools have been beefed up academically. But during Thursday's school board student achievement committee meeting, staff highlighted the STEM schools, the Global Schools, early colleges, Renaissance Schools, K-8 academy, career academies and Title I program.

In a perhaps symbolic decision, the magnet programs office has been renamed magnet and curriculum enhancement.

The initial list of Wake County school construction needs is out for consideration in the next school capital improvement program and bond issue.

As noted in today's article, staff will lay out at today's school board facilities committee meeting that 24 new schools are needed over the next four years. That includes 14 new elementary schools, three middle schools, five regular high schools, the CTE high school and an alternative school.

They've also listed 12 whole campus renovations that will essentially mean rebuilding those schools, 16 partial campus school renovations, various life-cycle projects and assorted support and athletic facilities.

Here's a running update on some of the votes from tonight's Wake County school board meeting.

The board voted 7-2 to pay $1.7 million over the next five years to install  GPS units on all the school buses. Only board members Susan Evans and Christine Kushner voted no.

The board unanimously approved extending the waiting lists for the school choice student assignment plan from June 29 to July 18. The board also unanimously voted to make the new career technical and education high school a full-day standalone model.

Over the objections of some board members, the board will go into closed session first to discuss whether to join the litigation against the N.C. Virtual Academy. Board member Debra Goldman was the most vocal critic, arguing they should have the discussion in open session to be transparent.

It looks like the Wake County school board's hand is being forced in terms of what model to use for the new career technical education high school.

The school board will vote Tuesday on making the new CTE high school a standalone full-day program. The alternative would be a half-day program in which Wake would have one group of students in the morning and another in the afternoon.

For the deal to go through, the county has to sign off on it. At the last meeting of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, County Manager David Cooke made it known to commissioners which option county staff prefers.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST