Tuesday's discussion about Fox Road Elementary highlights the challenges and limits that the current assignment policy faces in Wake.

For those who don't want to read the whole post, I'll run off some of the main points from Tuesday's facilities committee meeting. Staff is reviewing the draw areas for magnet and year-round schools, which could affect where current and future application students will go.

For diversity reasons, some magnet schools were deliberately left with empty seats this school year. For diversity reasons, an effort to encourage more low-income students to apply for year-round schools may have backfired, at least at Fox Road Elementary.

Here's a quick recap on today's facilities committee meeting.

The school board wrapped up the magnet school discussion without proposing any changes to the magnet selection process. But staff is looking at the draw areas for magnet and year-round schools so stay tuned.

I'll do a separate post on the magnet discussion later. For now, I'll focus more on the Forest Ridge High discussion.

In a nutshell, the school district is still moving forward with using the site on Forestville Road near U.S. 401.

The outgoing school board delves back into the world of magnet schools and the new Forest Ridge High School today.

During today's facilities committee meeting, board members will talk more about changes to the magnet and year-round selection process, focusing particularly on how the current system has affected Fox Road Elementary. They'll also discuss whether to continue going ahead with construction of Forest Ridge High.

The board is moving forward on both issues even though it's likely the new members will go the other way after taking office Dec. 1.

Today's meeting is open to the public. It begins at 9 a.m. in the board conference room, 3600 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh.

Should Wake adopt a controlled choice model as a way to promote diversity without going to neighborhood schools?

That's the approach pitched in an op-ed piece today by Richard Kahlenberg, who says controlled choice would "honor school integration, minimize mandatory student reassignment and maximize parental choice." Kahlenberg, a senior researcher at The Century Foundation, is a big booster of Wake's current diversity policy who is trying to make the best of the recent school board election results.

Under controlled choice, the entire school district would essentially become a series of magnet schools. Parents would select from schools within a zone with the district making the selections to promote diversity.

School board candidate John Tedesco is responding to the attacks made that the new board will resegregate schools and do away with magnet programs.

Tedesco says they'll find a new way for schools that's not the Charlotte way or the Wake way. While they won't abolish magnet schools, Tedesco said they will look at changing "inequities" in the selection process that reduce the odds for gifted students in low-income communities from getting into the program.

The current selection system is weighted toward giving applicants from crowded, more affluent schools higher priority. That's because the base populations at magnet schools usually have a high percentage of poor kids.

Below is the post he sent in response to the new NAACP/CCCAAC attack on the board. At his suggestion, I'm turning his reply into a separate post.

The NAACP, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children and the Wake Voter Coalition are urging churches and "supporters of diversity" to fight the return to neighborhood schools.

In a Tuesday press release, the three groups warn that the new school board majority "will jeopardize our children's educational opportunities" and that Southeast Raleigh schools will "not have quality resources" as neighborhood schools.

The press release says that Debra Goldman's support for extending electives in Cary and Apex could eliminate magnet programs. They also blast the idea of a KIPP Academy in Southeast Raleigh, which has been favorably mentioned by John Tedesco and Chris Malone, as being "another segregated school" that won't provide equal education for students.

Cathy Truitt fired bullets at the new school board members, the Wake County Republican Party and the Wake Schools Community Alliance as she announced her decision to concede the District 2 race.

Truitt warned that the new board majority will move toward resegregated schools by cutting magnet programs and sending students to "pure neighborhood schools." She said the public needs to speak out now to get the board to back off from making the quick changes she said they're planning.

"I don't think people want the school system to be blown up," Truitt said at her press conference. "If people get involved now, they can have an impact."

School board members are still considering changes to how students are selected to magnet schools even as they realize that the new board could undo whatever they adopt.

No changes were agreed to on Tuesday. But Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney was directed to come back to the Oct. 27 facilities committee meeting with more details about how 143 transfer students were allowed to leave Fox Road Elementary.

During the discussion, school board member Lori Millberg acknowledged that whatever they agree to do could be undone as it "depends on what the next board does if there’s no busing."

The question on the minds of a lot of people is whether the new school board will live up to campaign promises about neighborhood schools, year-round schools and ending the diversity policy.

Some people are anxiously hoping for the changes to come while others are dreading the future. But as noted in today's article, the new board members aren't sure yet how they'll turn their promises into reality so they're urging parents to give them some time.

"We haven't had neighborhood schools in such a long time that we have to see what we have in our neighborhoods," said new board member Deborah Prickett.

Based on Cathy Truitt's emphatic declaration that "forced busing" is dead, supporters of the diversity policy are in pretty bad shape right now.

As noted in today's article, Truitt said that no matter who wins the runoff in District 2 the new board member will support neighborhood schools and oppose the diversity policy. That would guarantee a five-vote majority for neighborhood schools.

Truitt's talk about supporting diversity and outreach to Horace Tart's supporters has given diversity policy supporters at least some hope of salvaging the situation.