As if Tuesday's Wake County school board meeting agenda couldn't get any more packed, here comes a proposed 2010-11 bell schedule that would see most elementary school students start at 9:30 a.m.

Under the new schedule, 71 of Wake's 103 elementary schools would run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The later start time will likely be an aggravation for families.

The changes are taking place at the same time there are $3.8 million in proposed school transportation budget cuts.

UPDATE

Modified the setenence because school officials say the changes aren't a direct result of the $3.8 million in budget cuts. But they are saying they're being proposed to save money. More details at end of post.

School board chairman Ron Margiotta said they may postpone Tuesday's vote to give more time to review the changes. It looks like board members didn't get the specifics on the new schedule until today,

BiggerPicture4Wake is calling last week's vote to convert Leesville Road elementary and middle schools back to a traditional calendar the Wake County school board majority's "third strike."

In a press release Monday, BiggerPicture says the first two strikes were eliminating the weekly Wednesday early dismissals and abandoning the Forest Ridge High site. The group says that the board majority is fulfilling campaign promises but ignoring data with decisions like abandoning the year-round calendar at Leesville.

"Now, the public needs to call them out to avoid further damage to Wake’s school system,” said Rhonda Curtright, BiggerPicture co-founder, in the press release.

The snow today is showing the challenges of keeping Wake County parents informed while juggling the Wednesday early dismissals.

The school system sent out a press release at 3:54 a.m. announcing that school would open on a two-hour delay today. But the district had to send out another press release at 7:56 a.m. to make sure parents knew that students would still get out an hour early as part of the regular Wednesday schedule for professional learning time.

For the typical elementary school student who starts at 9:05 a.m., today's schedule now runs from 11:05 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns said today he just couldn't stay on and implement the new school board majority's policies.

In an interview with the N&O today, Burns specifically cited concerns over the elimination of weekly Wednesday early dismissals and proposed elimination of the diversity policy.

“Once they [school board] set a direction, then it’s very important for the direction to be embraced, for folks to be passionate about it,” Burns said. “I have some other opinions and some other beliefs and to stay on as superintendent and implement policies I’m concerned about is wrong. It’s wrong for me.”

Wake NCAE is making another pitch to the Wake County school board to save the weekly Wednesday early dismissals.

In a press release Monday, Wake NCAE says the weekly one-hour teacher planning sessions made possible by the early dismissals are helping student achievement. The lobbying pitch has intensified since the new board voted to scrap the weekly early dismissals after the end of the school year.

Board members have talked about finding some other time during the school day for the one-hour planning sessions. Wake NCAE and other supporters of the professional learning teams are skeptical that it can be done without the early dismissals.

It looks like the resolution ending mandatory year-round assignments is the only one approved by the new Wake County school board majority that will require a second vote.

As noted in today's article, the MYR resolution was added to Tuesday's board agenda on the advice of school board attorney Ann Majestic. She said her research on the issue indicated that the resolution essentially changed board policy and policies normally require two votes.

"It effectively makes changes to board policy," Majestic said. "My advice was that it was intended to govern the conduct of the board and administration."

Wake NCAE President Jennifer Lanane is calling on the Wake County school board "to continue the partnership between stake holders that has traditionally produced the strong school system currently in place."

In a press release sent this afternoon, Lanane says "a true partnership only exists when all partners recognize the significance of each other's roles." She urges the school board not to work in isolation.

The press release can be interpreted as an attempt to persuade the new school board members to pay attention to Wake NCAE, which has 5,000 members.

Wake NCAE isn't giving up efforts to lobby the new Wake County school board majority to back away from the changes it's making.

In a blog post today, Wake NCAE President Jennifer Lanane told her members to attend a meeting next week to learn about "next action steps."  She tells her members that at Tuesday's school board meeting "some extraordinary decisions were made that will affect Wake County children for a long time."

Lanane and other Wake NCAE members had unsuccessfully urged the board to keep the weekly Wednesday early releases. She told the new board that they don't trust them.

It's probably unrealistic to expect a new system of neighborhood schools to be in place as early as next school year.

As noted in today's article, new school board members say their eventual goal is to move to neighborhood/commnity-based schools. While folks on the blog probably knew that, it may come as a a surprise to those who thought change would be immediate.

"We will begin to make systemic changes," said new school board member John Tedesco. "It's not going to happen overnight."

You might want to show up early for today's school board meeting.

Some 200 people are expected to watch in person the four new board members get sworn in. Plus, you've got a lot of people who may show up at the public comment section.

All this will occur while most of the people in the Administration building are still at work. Parking spots will be at a premium.