The hot topic of revising Wake County's student assignment policy will be back on the agenda Thursday.

The agenda for Thursday's joint meeting of the student achievement and policy committees includes discussion of the three pillars of Policy 6200 — achievement, proximity and stability. This is the prelude to the changes that the board majority would make to reinstate diversity into assignment.

The board had been working to get the revision approved before the 2013-14 plan was adopted but slowed down when it opted to use the 2011-12 maps as the baseline for this fall. But if they want to incorporate achievement explicitly into assignments for 2014-15 and beyond they need to revise the policy first.

The committees will also discuss an update on revising the grading policy and an update on a new equity policy and achievement gap policy.

Here's a recap of the interviews of Wade Minter and Shinica Thomas for the District 1 vacancy on the Wake County school board.

Minter found multiple ways to bring up his support for Wake's old socioeconomic diversity policy even when he wasn't asked questions on topics that touched on the subject.

The first reference was on how Minter wold meet the needs of all students a at a time of limited resources. He said that the diversity policy is a good one that helps parents who don't have as much time to work with their children or the means to provide resources to their kids.

Prospective Wake County school board applicants were grilled today on a range of topics, such as their views on magnet schools, student assignment, the superintendent search and the challenges facing Eastern Wake County.

Each board member asked the same question to the applicants. They asked the question from Debra Goldman as well, even though she resigned Friday.

Here were the eight questions:

Here's a recap of the interviews from Wendy Ford and Hilda McCullers for the District 1 vacancy on the Wake County school board.

Ford repeatedly stressed that she knew what the board was going through having served on a school board in upstate New York for 19 years. She said she's done everything the board now faces, including being involved in two superintendent searches.

Another thing that Ford frequently mentioned is that Wake needs to deal with competition from the popularity of charter schools, especially parents who are dissatisfied with the district.

Former Wake County school board member Debra Goldman wants to be remembered for being thoughtful in all her decisions and for actions such as bringing Tony Tata to the area and helping "students be able to go to schools closer to where they live."

Goldman explained during a press conference today that she resigned Friday to become executive director of the Derie Cheek Reece Foundation , a Wilkes County-based non-profit that raises awareness of strokes and how to prevent them. Goldman was asked what she hoped would be the legacy that she'd leave behind on the board.

"I believe that my legacy will be what I've heard in these letters I've been getting, the phone calls, the emails, the Facebook messages (from supporters since the resignation)," Goldman said. "They all have been they felt I was a board member that really thought about every decision."

Wake County parents can go online now to find out if their request for their children to return to their base school for the 2013-14 school year has been approved.

The base declaration results were posted online Friday, ahead of the scheduled Monday release. Families can log in here

School officials were not immediately able to say how many had applied and how many were approved. Before the start of the filing period, which ran from Jan. 7-14, school officials said they'd guarantee approval as long as the school that families wanted to attend had the space.

For various reasons, such as slowing growth and tensions with commissioners, it's looking like the Wake County school system will shy away from asking for as much as a $1 billion bond referendum this year.

As noted in today's article, school board chairman Keith Sutton said after Thursday's joint meeting they'll talk with commissioners to work out a compromise for a lower bond total. It will be based on the school district's needs and how much commissioners are willing to raise taxes.

As for the growth projection, there was a lot of speculation about why it has slowed, especially this year. Reasons cited by officials from both boards included the poor economy, problems with the choice plan and bus service and people opting out of the school district.

Two meetings involving the future of the Wake County school system will be held today.

At 8 a.m., the school board and county commissioners will hold the first of a series of joint meetings to discuss plans for a fall school bond issue. The meeting will be held at the offices of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, the group that would organize efforts to urge voters to back the bond issue.

The last time both boards met in March, Commissioner Tony Gurley and school board member Jim Martin had a heated exchange over the school district's fund balance.

Later on at 7 p.m., WakeUP Wake County will hold its 2013 Annual Meeting. Organizers say that "WakeUP’s 2012 accomplishments will be reviewed and policy challenges for 2013 will be discussed, including the Wake Transit Plan, Raleigh’s UDO, Wake’s school assignment plan and more."

The eight applicants for the Wake County school board vacancy are giving their views on diversity, armed guards in schools, the choice plan, performance pay for teachers, the school construction bond issue and charter schools.

The answers are part of an article in this week's issue of the liberal Independent Weekly, which focused on their views on diversity and armed guards. The diversity responses run the gamut from support to opposition to its use in student assignment.

On one end are these people whose views on diversity seem to be the closest in line to the board majority.

The Wake County school system is saying most, if not all, parents who file a request during the base declaration period this week will be approved.

As noted in today's article, the base declaration period kicks off today and runs through next Monday, Jan. 14. The district's website says that "these students will have a guaranteed seat for the new school year unless that school is fully capped."

Some skeptics of the new address-based plan contend that it won't be that easy for families to get into their base school.