The Graduation Project is now off the table for Wake County high school students.

Last month, the Wake school board agreed not to go ahead with a separate district Graduation Project. Instead, board members told staff to make sure that the elements of the Graduation Project, such as the research requirement, are embedded elsewhere in the curriculum.

Some Wake high school students had gotten nervous after the school board began talking about making the Graduation Project a local requirement once it was dropped as a state requirement.

Even though it doesn't look like the school board will make the Graduation Project a districtwide requirement anytime soon, some students are pushing forward on their own.

As noted in today's article, 482 rising seniors have returned a form to their school saying they intend to complete the project before graduating in 2010. If senioritis doesn't get in the way, they'll get to wear a cord on their gown and receive a notation on their transcript near year.

There are also four students who are graduating a year early who will have a cord on their gowns this month.

It looks like students graduating in 2011 are also off the hook now for the Graduation Project.

Wake school board members agreed today to recommend not making a local version of the Graduation Project a requirement for the Class of 2011. The recession drew the blame.

School board members said the resources don't exist to properly implement even a scaled-down local version of the Graduation Project.

Wake high school sophomores are being put on notice that they should expect to complete a state-mandated Graduation Project or similar local requirement in order to graduate in 2011.

As noted in today's article, the school board agreed to not make the Graduation Project a requirement for the Class of 2010. But board members repeatedly said Tuesday that sophomores who gamble it will be optional in 2011 would be making a big mistake.

"We need to look to ourselves to have it in place," said school board member Eleanor Goettee, a big supporter of the Graduation Project.

Here are some quick updates from today's committee of the whole meeting.

The school board agreed to make the Graduation Project optional for the Class of 2010. Students who voluntarily complete the project will be able to wear a cord at graduation and receive a notation on their transcript.

But the board asked staff to draft it up so that it would be a graduation requirement in 2011 even if the state delays implementation again.

Graduation projects will likely be optional for students graduating from Wake County schools next year.

A school board committee batted around various ideas for how to treat the project, now that the State Board of Education decided to that it won't be a requirement for next year's graduates, Lynn Bonner reports. 

The commitee decided to go along with a staff recommendation to make it optional, and will take that suggestion to the full board next week. Staff had recommended that students who decide to compete the project get tassels on their diplomas and mentions on their transcripts. Board members wanted more incentives for students to complete a time-consuming project if they don't have to do it. 

We may get resolution, or at least more clarity, today on whether Wake will delay implementation of the Graduation Project,

Staff will discuss at today's school board student achievement committee meeting the impact of the State Board of Education's decision to delay making the Graduation Project a requirement until the Class of 2011.

We could get a staff recommendation on whether Wake should also wait until 2011 or keep it as a requirement for the Class of 2010. It's a big deal for the thousands of high school juniors in Wake.