So how are the various Wake County elementary and middle schools putting their money for small schools, Global Schools and STEM programs to use?

As noted in this Sunday North Raleigh News article by Chelsea Kellner, the principals at the schools getting the extra resources say they are busy solidifying the programs in each school's culture.

Those getting small schools money now have additional staff and full-time art, music and PE specialists. Previously, they only had enough funding to bring those specialists in three or four days a week.

We've got new details today about the newly renamed Hilburn Drive Academy.

During today's weekly press briefing, Tata said the school will operate on  a traditional calendar. This came after parents were surveyed on the calendar they wanted for the middle school grades that will be phased in over the next three years.

HIlburn will continue to offer its new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) theme. But it will also become part of Wake's Global Schools Network where the focus is on languages, in this case Spanish.

Candidate and school board chairman Ron Margiotta held firm to his opposition to the use of achievement schools as he touched on student assignment and other matters today.

In an interview today with conservative WPTF talk show host Bill LuMaye, Margiotta said parents all across the county, including those in Southeast Raleigh, have indicated they want neighborhood schools. He pointed to how parents on the online test drive overwhelmingly chose their closest school.

"Parents want to be close to home and as far as I'm concerned every school in this county should be a high-achieving school," Margiotta said. "And I think that's what our goal should be: to make every school high achieving, not just ones in the suburbs. or not just our magnet schools within the cities, wherever they may be."

Here's a synopsis of how Wake County school administrators are dealing with a proposed 8.8 percent funding cut from state House Education leaders.

With the cut being far higher than the 5 percent reduction the new budget was built on, Wake is drawing up plans should they need to lay off teacher assistants and custodians.

One of the major differences between what the state Department of Public Instruction and the state House has proposed is a greater reduction in funding for teacher assistants. The state House plan would remove all funding for teacher assistants beyond kindergarten and first grade.

I saw this feature in the March issue of Reader's Digest: Eight expressions that ought to exist in our native tongue but don't. The excerpt comes from a travel site called Matador Network.

My favorite is "jayus" from Indonesian: "a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh." Check out the list of "20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World" by Jason Wire.

The Wake County school board student assignment committee spent time Tuesday reviewing equity and program offering in the district.

Interim Superintendent Donna Hargens used the cupcake analogy in which she said that all schools should have the same basic foundations, or "cake." She said magnet schools have the "icing" such as arts programs.

For Advanced Placement programs, Hargens said they try to give high school students equal access to those courses. She pointed to how students travel physically or electronically to take AP courses not offered by their school.

The quick upshot of today's Wake County student assignment committee meeting is that the process is now stalled following last week's vote scrapping the community zones.

School board member Chris Malone complained that the district is back to square one. Board member John Tedesco, committee chairman, said that while they looked at a lot of good information today they don't have any direction on how to use it now.

In this vacuum, board member Deborah Prickett proposed a bunch of changes for her district today, including:

UPDATE

SEE END OF POST FOR HANDOUT ON PRICKETT'S PROPOSED CHANGES

Click here for Wednesday's article about the meeting.

The Wake County school system is trumpeting some new initiatives that will be launched for the 2010-11 school year at Knightdale High School.

In a media advisory today, reporters are invited to attend Knightdale High tomorrow to hear Principal Carla Jernigan talk about a new Academy for Environmental Sciences and a new Freshmen Leadership Academy, Jernigan will also discuss a new initiative in which Knightdale and Green Hope high schools will jointly offer Advanced Placement and foreign language classes.

Also present Tuesday will be interim Superintendent Donna Hargens, school board chairman Ron Margiotta, school board member Chris Malone, Wake County Commissioner Joe Bryan, Knightdale Mayor Russell Killen and Knightdale Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jennifer Bryan.

Wake County commissioners are giving the school board what it asked for this year but have questions about funding for Project Enlightenment and foreign language instruction.

As reported online by Thomas Goldsmith, the commissioners voted 6-1 this afternoon to approve a $951 million budget. It also give the school board its request of about $313 million, the same it got last year.

Commissioner Lindy Brown asked for a friendly amendment to "hold out" $1.5 million to reinstate foreign language instruction in 16 high schools and four positions in the Project Enlightenment program. The request, which turned out to be somewhat erroneous, was rejected.

Transfer appeal season is off and running.

As noted in today's article, the school board heard more than 200 appeals on Monday. It's the first of several hearings scheduled for this month.

The board is dealing with the first group of people whose transfer requests were rejected by staff.