If nothing else, the Cary families fighting reassignment from Apex High to Athens Drive High win recognition for being vocal and organized.

As noted in today's article by Bonnie Rochman, they've got a web site and done their own analysis of the plan to counter the rationale used by school administrators. Whether it will resonate with the school board is the big question.

School administrators say moving the students reduces crowding at Apex High and will "better utilize available space at Athens Drive High." Those Cary students are also assigned to Dillard Drive Middle, which feeds into Athens Drive.

If you missed last week's article, Wake may have to raise school breakfast and lunch prices.

Food and labor costs are going up, according to Marilyn Moody, senior director for child nutrition. She said there's also been a big drop in sales of a la carte items, the things that balance the budget.

But the reason that drew the most questions at a school board committee meeting earlier this month is that more families are applying for federally subsidized lunches.

So what do you guys think of the new reassignment plan?

Click here to view the plan. Click here to download the 740-page PDF of the plan, sans map.

As some of you have already noticed, the LI (low income) percentages at high schools are way higher than what's normally reported.

School board members are miffed at the fallout from their decision not to do a study on the diversity policy.

During Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting, board members argued that they weren't against a study, per se. Board member Beverley Clark said the problem was that the question was framed in a way that was unanswerable.

Board members Horace Tart and Ron Margiotta had wanted staff to see if students who were reassigned from North Garner Middle School to West Lake Middle School for diversity reasons are now doing better academically.

The school board shot down a proposal today to have staff research whether students are benefitting from the diversity policy.

School board members Ron Margiotta and Horace Tart argued for having the Evaluation and Research Department track the performance of students who are assigned for diversity reasons. They said it would help show whether trying to balance the percentage of low-income students at schools is succeeding.

But other board members at today's student achievement committee meeting disagreed. Some said a study wasn't needed while others said it wouldn't be possible to do a valid study.

Here are a few odds and ends from Monday's CEM meeting on growth projections, the cost of reassignment and Wake's academic status.

A parent asked Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney if the current economic conditions have been factored into the growth projections used in the draft reassignment plan. Dulaney said no but that the municipalities may be updating the housing projections they provided the school system two years ago.

Another parent asked if the school district has done a formal cost benefit analysis of the reassignment proposal. Dulaney said no.

One of the questions that parents and some school board members are asking is what's changed in the past month for Broughton High to be in danger of losing its magnet program.

After all, the school board had unanimously agreed on Oct. 21 that Broughton should keep its International Baccalaureate Program. But now a majority of board members are supportive of removing the magnet program.

School board member Beverley Clark, who is leading the charge to demagnetize Broughton, gave an explanation on Tuesday.

It's appropriate that Cary High is the host for tonight's community engagement meeting considering how central it is to many of the groups that will be speaking.

As noted in today's article, one group doesn't want to be reassigned out of Cary High. Two groups don't want to be forced to attend the school. A fourth group wants to be sent to Cary High.

Based on the expected turnout, it's probably a good idea to get there as early as 6 p.m. tonight when the signup sheets are distributed.

With the draft reassignment plan less than a week away, there's interest in who's helping to put it all together.

That includes the members of the student assignment advisory committee. The members are Diana Bader, Alison Donnelly, Anne Sherron, David Williams, George Wait, Julie Stevens, Larry Dickens, Liz Parry and Roxie Cash.

Those names should be familiar to those who've been around here for a few years. Here's info on some of the members.

Over the past two years, a lot of people on the blog have thrown out the example of the KIPP schools to argue that Wake doesn't need to have socioeconomic diversity.

That case took a hit with the release of the new ABCs results on Thursday. As noted in today's Charlotte Observer, the KIPP School in Charlotte had a passing rate of 56.2 percent on the latest round of state tests.

"We're definitely disappointed. Our goals were higher,” said Principal Keith Burnam, a former math teacher who opened the KIPP school in northeast Charlotte last year, in the article.