The Wake County school system plans to launch a comprehensive study of its year-round school program, both in terms of facilities usage and programming.

School administrators say the study is needed to figure out what role year-round schools should have in future student assignment plans. It's tied in with issues about how a number of year-rounds schools are underenrolled and face issues providing program equity across tracks.

Talk of the study emerged during Tuesday's discussion and removal of Highcroft Drive Elementary School as one of the overflow options for 2013-14 for the capped Mills Park Elementary School. Some board members attributed the vote to growth while others blamed it on the board's decision to return to the 2011-12 base maps.

So how good is the Wake County school system?

That's the focus of the package in today's paper, which looks at how Wake fares against some other districts it's long compared itself with. Some maintain that Wake is one of the best districts in the nation while others say that's an over the top statement.

"Wake is one of the best school systems in the nation," said Yevonne Brannon, chairwoman of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition. "We had a few hiccups a few years ago but we’re on the way back. We’ve got a strong school board and a very capable staff."

As expected, the Wake County school board approved the revised student assignment policy tonight.

There wasn't much discussion tonight, in contrast to the first reading, before the 7-2 vote in favor of the revision. Board members Deborah Prickett and John Tedesco were the lone dissenters.

Prickett and Tedesco raised concerns about the inclusion in policy of the goals of minimizing concentrations of low-income and low-performing students at schools.

"I still think the idea of busing students for test scores is a problem,” Tedesco said. “The devil is in the details.”

Much of the coverage of today's Wake County school board meeting will be focused on the release of the names of the superintendent finalists.

But the school board will be doing other things that will have a significant impact on the new superintendent. For one thing, the board will have the second and final reading on the revised student assignment policy that the new superintendent will be in charge of turning into a plan.

The second reading, as is standard, is listed on the consent agenda. It's pretty safe to say that one or more board members will request it be placed on the action agenda for it to be discussed and voted on separately.

Another round of "Moral Monday" protests are on tap today as the state NAACP continues its weekly protests at the General Assembly.

In a pair of articles Friday, the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, and Yvonne Brannon, head of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, cite the 2010 Wake County school board protests as being successful forerunners of the current protests.

In Friday's Associated Press article, Barber says doubters of the effectiveness of the current protests should look to what happened when they fought the student assignment efforts of the former Republican school board majority in Wake.

The revised student assignment policy drew some widely differing reaction Tuesday between the Wake County school board majority and minority board member Deborah Prickett.

As noted in today's article, policy supporters praised the revised policy with its balancing of student achievement, stability, proximity and operational efficiency as something "that anybody in this country would be proud of."

But Prickett charged it was a policy aimed at low-income and low-performing students that would move them out of their neighborhoods and wouldn't really help them succeed academically.

Here's a quick recap of today's Wake County school board meeting.

The board voted 7-1 to approve on first reading the revised student assignment policy. Board member Deborah Prickett was the lone dissenter. John Tedesco was absent tonight.

The board also voted, apparently unanimously, to approve a budget request asking for an $8.3 million increase from the county. Prickett questioned creating the Office of Equity and Diversity.

The board also gave initial thumbs up approval to a revised $940 million list of school bond projects. Staff was able to come up with money to fund more renovations, particularly in Garner, by making some cuts, using projected proceeds from sale of school properties and using $43 million in school bonds being issued by the county.

Student assignment, the school budget and the bond issue are among the items the Wake County school board will deal with today.

The board will hold the first of two scheduled votes on this revised student assignment policy that would incorporate as goals minimizing concentrations of low-performing and low-income students at schools.

On a related diversity note, the school board will vote on approving a budget that asks county commissioners for an $8.3 million increase in funding. This request includes $218,000 to create an Office of Equity and Diversity, which could elicit questions from some commissioners.

During the work session, the board will continue to refine the list of projects that would be funded out of this fall's proposed school bond referendum. One thing to see is if board members call for revising the original staff list to cut the number of new schools in order to increase funding on renovation projects.

The Wake County school system's final transfer application period is now in progress.

Parents began receiving today an “official notice of school assignment” letter from the school system listing their child’s 2013-14 school assignment. The letter triggers a window of 10 business days in which parents who don’t like the assignment can file a transfer request.

Transfers might be approved for reasons such as childcare issues, student health concerns, school employees who want their children to be at the same school or on the same calendar and parents who want to keep their children on the same calendar.

Click here for information on the transfer process, including how to download the form.

Is creating an Office of Diversity and Equity something that the Wake County school system should look at exploring?

As noted in today's article, the school board told staff on Tuesday to revise the budget proposal to come up with up to $200,000 to create this new office. Board members say this office, along with the revisions in the student assignment policy to minimize concentrations of low-income and low-performing students at schools and the new equity policy will help promote equity for students.

School board chairman Keith Sutton has been the big backer of creating this new office, which is modeled on one in the Guilford County school system. It's because of Sutton that staff developed a business case for creating the new office even though it wasn't part of the original budget request.