Conflicting views on the feeder patterns could determine just how stable they'll be for families moving forward in Wake County's new student assignment plan.

During Tuesday's school board meeting, Democratic board members were skeptical about being able to guarantee that families could have a feeder pattern locked in for 13 years. Board members said it's more realistic to talk about guaranteeing stability for students once they're in a school,

But Republican board members and staff said that 13 years of feeder stability is possible.

Did the Wake County school board make a mistake in 2010 by voting to open Mills Park Middle on a traditional calendar instead of as planned on the year-round calendar?

As noted in today's article, the answer was yes Tuesday from several Carpenter Elementary parents who blamed the decision to open Mills Park on a traditional calendar as a big reason why they're feeding into East Cary Middle in the new student assignment plan.

Without Middle Park as a year-round school, the plan gives the Carpenter families calendar continuity by sending them to East Cary. But parents said it's their seventh closest middle school located on the other side of Cary.

Look for a protest outside outside today's Wake County school board meeting over the new student assignment plan.

Parents from Carpenter Elementary have secured a permit from Cary Police to picket on the sidewalk in front of the Central Services Building. They're coming with signs and bullhorns for the demonstration.

Several parents will also speak during public comment at the board meeting. They're objecting how the new plan has Carpenter feeding into East Cary Middle.

The feeder is supposed to provide calendar continuity for the year-round students. But the Carpenter parents say they want to go to a closer middle school. A number of families now go to Davis Drive Middle.

Could the development of feeder patterns be more of a hold-up on the new Wake County student assignment plan than coming to an agreement on achievement-choice schools?

As noted in today's article, staff's update on the student assignment plan included discussion on achievement schools and a presentation on sample feeder patterns. During the meeting, board members said zilch on the achievement schools but went into detail on the feeder patterns.

"We know this is contentious," Superintendent Tony Tata said to board members in response to the feeder pattern concerns. "This is high stakes. We want your feedback to make this right."

More details to come later but there's now a proposal on the table to collapse 14 multi-track Wake County year-round schools to a single track.

Superintendent Tony Tata proposed today giving flexibility to principals at under-enrolled year-round schools the flexibility to go to a single track for the 2011-12 school year. He said the principals would pick the track.

The schools identified by Tata are those that are at under 100 percent of what would be their single-track capacity: Alston Ridge, Ballentine, Banks Road, East Garner, Harris Creek, Highcroft, Lake Myra, Rand Road, River Bend, Timber Drive, Wakefield and West Lake elementary schools; and East Cary and Holly Grove middle schools.

UPDATE

Tata says he'll come back in May with a specific list of schools to recommend. While he didn't specify a number, it will likely not be all of the 14 year-round schools that are below 100 percent of single-track capacity.

Congratulation to Catherine Wagner for winning today's Wake County Spelling Bee.

Wagner, 13, an eighth-grader at St. Michael School in Cary, came out on top of a field that included 78 competitors, mostly from the Wake County school system. The event lasted more than 4 1/2 hours and 23 rounds.

Wagner's prizes will include an all-expenses paid trip in June to Washington D.C. for the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Wagner will be the first student to represent Wake in the national competition since 1997.

The Wake County student reassignment plan has been reduced to 3,935 students, 768 students fewer than when the board started this week.

On Thursday, the board agreed to several changes, including reversing Tuesday's decision to consider adding the Woods of Tiffany subdivision subdivision to the plan. Only one new node was added.

Click here to view the revised list of nodes in the plan. Wake hasn't updated the plan on its website.

UPDATE/CORRECTION

In addition, the start of the magnet application period has been pushed back a week. It will now start Feb. 21 and end March 7.

Next year's Wake County student reassignment plan is a work in progress with everything approved by the old school board under review with new suggestions coming in all the time.

During Tuesday's work session, Laura Evans, senior director of growth and planning, laid out to the board an explanation of the assignments being considered and the direction they're leaning toward. It will help to have your copy of the handout present.

The ensuing discussion showed how the thinking has changed to reflect the new student assignment policy. Multiple times, Evans talked about bringing students home, having them attend their neighborhood schools and moving the least number possible for stability.

Details are still being worked out on how to accommodate the families who still want to stay on the year-round calendar now that the Wake County school board has changed schedules for four schools for the 2010-11 school year.

The school board unanimously agreed Tuesday to convert Leesville Road elementary and middle schools and Mills Park Elementary to a traditional calendar and to open Mills Park MIddle on that same calendar.

The plan is to allow families at those four schools to apply to a year-round calendar if they don't want to stay after conversion. But the mechanism for allowing families to apply still is being worked out.

Most speakers actually talked about year-round schools at Tuesday night's hearing at Leesville Road High School on school calendars.

As noted in today's article, the year-round calendars at Leesville Road elementary and middle schools dominated much of the discussion. It's a departure from the first three CEM meetings in which turnout was light and neighborhood schools and the diversity policy were discussed more than the calendar.

Both sides of the Leesville fight turned out in large numbers. They tried to out cheer each other when one of their speakers finished talking.