newsobserver.com blogs -- wakeed

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata on the bell schedule changes and the Panther Creek High ninth-grade center

KeungHui — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:31:36 -0500

Here's the quick recap of today's press conference held by Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata defended the proposed bell schedules changes as a way that will save money that can be put to better use in the classroom. But he also acknowledged parental concerns, pointing to the online survey that has generated 1,100 comments so far.

Tata also said today that, based on parental feedback, he'll talk with school board chairman Kevin Hill about taking another look at the deal to lease an office building to serve as a new Panther Creek High School ninth-grade center.

The board opted not to stick modular units on the site of a future middle school next to Alston Ridge Elementary School. While the office building at 3700 Pleasant Church Grove Road in Morrisville is further away from the high school, it can be ready for the 2012-13 school year.

UPDATE

Click here for the online story.

Wake County school system looking at housing leadership academy middle school students at the Governor Morehead School

KeungHui — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Is the Governor Morehead School for the Blind the right place to house some of the students in the Wake County school system's new single-sex leadership academies?

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told state legislators on Tuesday that he's been negotiating with the state Department of Public Instruction to lease space at the Morehead School to house 300 students. It's part of State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson's ongoing efforts to find alternative funding to avoid closing the Morehead School.

Later at Tuesday's school board meeting, Tata provided more detail to board members. He said the plan is to house the middle school students from the leadership academies at the Morehead School.

“William Peace University will have the 9 through 12 portion of the leadership academies," Tata told school board members. "Because of the heavy demand — we had 950 applications for 300 seats — we want the potential to expand the program. So we’re working in concert with Dr. Atkinson to lease space at the Gov. Morehead School, which has the dual benefit of helping preserve the blind program at the Gov. Morehead School.

Dr. Atkinson has quoted us a $8-12 range per sq. foot lease agreement. Once we get that nailed down we will bring that to the board. The middle school component would be at the Gov. Morehead with the high school component at William Peace University with the intent of being able to expand that and also bring in other universities as part of the Early College.”

Also during Tuesday's school board meeting, school board member Susan Evans raised questions about the projected $5.9 million cost to open the leadership academies. The funding is part of a $130 million reallocation of unspent bond money that was ultimately approved by the board on Tuesday.

Evans asked how staff could assess the cost for the academies “when we haven’t pinpointed the locations." The lease deals with Peace University and the Morehead School are still being negotiated.

Don Haydon, the school district's chief facilities and operations officer, said they're working hourly to get a final price to give to the school board. He said they might have it next month.

“I am a little concerned that we may need a little more for those academies once we nail everything down," Haydon said.

Wake County school system now conducting online survey on bell schedule proposal

KeungHui — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:16:01 -0500

The Wake County school system's new online survey on the bell schedule proposal is now live

Click here to take the survey. The survey runs through 10 p.m. on Feb. 16.

Comments will be provided to school board members before they discuss the proposal again on Feb. 21.

Court dates set for protesters arrested at Wake County school board meetings

KeungHui — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:23:12 -0500

It looks like the 30 protesters who were arrested at Wake County school board meetings in 2010 will finally be going to court.

Court dates have been scheduled for four Fridays between March 2 and April 13. Prosecutors grouped the court dates for the defendants based on when they were arrested.

This means the people arrested in March and June 2010 will be in court March 2. This group includes the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP; the Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Tim Tyson, a Duke University historian and author; and Dante Strobino, co-founder of the self-described socialist group Raleigh FIST.

Barber and Petty, who were re-arrested in July 2010, will also appear in court March 16. That day, some of the other protesters arrested at the tumultuous July 2010 meeting will also go to court.

The remaining people arrested in July 2010 have a court date on March 30.

The people arrested in August 2010, including Seth Keel, have a court date on April 13.

Wake County school board talking about school start times for high school students

KeungHui — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0500

It might not produce any changes in the proposed bell schedules for Wake County schools this fall, but look for a discussion Feb. 21 on the impact of school start times on high school students.

School board member John Tedesco wants staff to talk about the sleep study research that indicates it's better to have later start times for older students.

Also look for a discussion on traffic concerns raised by school board member Jim Martin that later start times for high school students could be dangerous.

The majority of Wake's high schools now start at 7:25 a.m. There's been talk over the years, citing the national research that teens need more sleep, to start the day later.

Some Wake high schools were allowed to start at 8:05 a.m. But the proposal would move those schools to 7:25 a.m. this fall.

One of the stumbling blocks for making a change in the past is that staff said that the three-tier system means that having later times for high schools means having to go with earlier times for elementary schools. Parents of elementary school students have not been happy about the greater prospect of their kids waiting at the bus stop in the darkness.

But with the new proposal shifting Wake to a two-tier system, that may not be as much of a problem.

“One of the conversations we've talked about a lot over the last couple of years is the impact of learning in the classroom on some students based on age with start times at schools," Tedesco said at Tuesday's work session. "We’ve had several conversations that high school students have tended to do better with later start times and some of the earlier start times would better serve the elementary students, and we’ve had that conversation at a couple of different points.

Would there be opportunity to bring some more discussion to the table on the 21st about that? While you’re looking at this now, if you’re going to make such a monster so to speak overhaul of the bell schedule, is there opportunity now for us to look at starting some of our high schools a little later in a way that might produce academic benefits for our kids?"

Don Haydon, chief facilities and operations officer, said they can discuss both the academic and cost impacts of later start times for high school students. He also asked if the board wanted staff to discuss other issues at the next meeting.

“If we’re going to talk about the high school start times, we need a real traffic safety analysis," Martin responded. "I have a young driver in my household, and it’s a whole lot safer to drive at 6:30 in the morning than it is 7:30 in the morning.”

“Yes indeed," chimed in school board member Susan Evans.

“What about 9 o’clock or 9:30?” asked school board member Christine Kushner.

“Nine o’clock makes it even worse if you’ve been on the roads," Martin answered.

Martin said that at 6:30 a.m. “the roads are empty.”

“I can almost guarantee you’ll probably have more accidents if we shift high school start times later," Martin added.

Tedesco, who lives in Garner, responded that in his part of the county it's jammed on I-40 at 6:30 a.m. with the "Johnston Jam." He said the roads are empty by 8 a.m. He said traffic in the morning depends on the part of the county you live in.

Martin responded that's why you need a traffic analysis.

Wake County school board approves design money for Athens Drive High stadium project

KeungHui — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:00:00 -0500

Wake County school board member Jim Martin flexed some of his political muscle at Tuesday's school board meeting.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Martin got the board to amend the plan to reallocate $130 million in unused bond money to cover the cost of design work for renovations to Athens Drive High's stadium. Staff is projecting they'll have $500,000 left over, which Martin noted would cover the design costs for the stadium.

The design work would jump start the renovation project. The actual funding for the $7.4 million in renovation work would come from the next bond issue.

The amendment came after Athens Drive parents stayed through the long closed session to lobby for the project. Administrators, students and parents are asking for a field house, better lighting, a paved parking lot and other improvements that would make the site accessible to people with disabilities.

“We've been waiting,” Athens Drive parent Alan Keith said to board members. “We certainly ask that our facility be considered prior to any new athletic facilities.”

Other parents distributed thick packets to board members, with large color photographs illustrating the differences between Athens Drive’s antiquated sportsplex and the much larger and better equipped stadiums at schools like Panther Creek High.

When it came time to vote on the $130 million package, Martin introduced his amendment. Athens Drive is one of the school's represented by Martin. The vote came around 10:30 p.m.

The amendment drew objections from Republican school board member Deborah Goldman, who said that Martin hadn't brought it up when they discussed the spending plan during the work session. She said it "was not appropriate" to bring up the amendment at this late date.

"As much as I do believe that we need to look at the Athens Drive stadium, I believe there are other schools in dire need as well," Goldman said. "“That's really, literally an eleventh-hour change without the board having the benefit of any staff recommendation or information or detailed plans or anything else."

The ensuing 5-4 vote on the amendment was along party lines. Martin and the other Democrats all voted yes. The Republicans voted no.

When it came to voting on the whole package, the vote was 8-1 with only Goldman dissenting. Considering how the plan covers a variety of other projects, defeating the package would have had major repercussions.

Wake County school board gives preliminary approval to reinstating standing committees

KeungHui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Late Tuesday night, the Wake County school board voted 5-4 along party lines to pass on first reading the reinstatement of the student achievement, finance, policy and facilities committees.

Under the vote, which will still require a second reading for adoption, the committees would be reevaluated after six months. Left unresolved Tuesday was the future of the economically disadvantaged student performance task force.

Democratic school board chairman Kevin Hill proposed keeping the ED task force but rolling it into the student achievement committee. That proposal drew opposition from Republican school board member John Tedesco, who has headed the ED task force since its formation in 2010.

Tedesco said that the proposal would "marginalize" the task force. He said the task force has been shining a light an issues that wouldn't normally be addressed.

Tedesco said having a separate committee has helped keep the task force strong by encouraging so many of the community members to keep coming back.

Hill denied he was trying to marginalize the task force. He said he believes that having the heads of the student achievement committee and the task force working in tandem could produce a "more powerful voice" on education issues.

Board members agreed to revisit the future of the ED task force on Feb. 21 while pushing forward with reinstating the committees.

As you guys recall, there's been a lot of debate over the past year-and-a-half about the standing committees. The Republican board members have argued that the committees are duplicative of what the whole board does and takes up board and staff time. Democratic members have argued that the committees do valuable work.

When the board voted last year to suspend the standing committees, only the ED task force was left in operation.

The Democratic members proposed Tuesday that they waive second reading, which would require a two-thirds vote. But that motion failed because it only got a 5-4 vote with all the Democrats supporting waiving second reading and the Republicans voting no.

At that point, Republican board member Debra Goldman proposed one of her many motions to adjourn the meeting. The motion was defeated.

The Democrats then settled for passing it on first reading only. The Democrats voted yes and the Republicans voted no.

Wake County school system on how to explain bell schedule changes to community

KeungHui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:00:00 -0500

Can the Wake County school system sell the public on the merits of the bell schedule changes for this fall?

As noted in today's article, school staff said the proposal would help Wake avoid $10 million in costs and revenue losses this fall. But school board members said it would take community outreach to explain it to parents why they're being asked to make changes of more than an hour in some cases.

"If we don't (do community outreach), we’re going to get thousands of calls and emails about this," said school board member John Tedesco.

The proposal will be posted on the school system's website for parents to view and to make public comments.

Bob Snidemiller, senior director of transportation, framed it as an issue of efficiency. Based on a formula to determine an efficiency rate, the state provides funding for school transportation. Wake is now 99.49 percent efficient according to the state formula.

In recent years, Snidemiller said other school systems have cut their service to maintain a high efficiency rating. He said Wake instead chose to cut costs while running more buses, serving more students and dealing with rising fuel costs. He said cuts had allowed Wake's transportation budget to drop from $69 million in 2008-09 down now to $64 million.

But Snidemiller said the transportation system is seeing strains that, if left unchanged, could drop the efficiency rating this fall to 91 percent. He said that would drop state funding by $4 million. But he said the bell schedule changes will keep the efficiency rating at 99 percent to avoid the loss in funding.

Snidemiller said there are also $6.3 million in additional capital and operating costs that can be avoided by adopting the bell schedule changes.

He said that leaving the system as is would require adding 52 more buses and drivers.

But Snidemiller said that the new bell schedule would not only avoid adding the new buses but would also allow them to shrink the size of the current fleet by 60 buses. This would mean Wake could operate 873 buses this fall instead of the 933 now on the road and the 985 they projected would be needed if the bell schedules weren't changed.

The bell schedule changes would expand the length of time between start and dismissal times.

Snidemiller said the wider spacing between tiers means they can better accommodate the new choice-based student assignment plan. He said they'll be able to slightly extend runs without the need to run additional buses.

Snidemiller said the changes would also improve customer service since the longer time between dismissals means he's confident they'll be able to get buses to schools by the time the closing bell rings. Currently, Don Haydon, the chief facilities and operations officer, said it's not uncommon for buses to arrive 30 minutes after dismissal.

With the buses more likely to arrive at time, Haydon said elementary school students might actually get home at the same time as they do now even though they'd be dismissed 10 minutes later.

Even with the changes, Snidemiller said bus ride times aren't expected to be significantly impacted.

“The average ride time is 16 minutes," Snidemiller said. "We don’t think it’s really going to increase it all that much.”

School board member Debra Goldman raised concerns that the changes in times could impact how families make their school choices. Board member Susan Evans said she agreed with that concern.

Judy Peppler, the district's chief transformation officer, told board members that schools are looking at what before- and after-school programs are available to help deal with the impact of the bell schedule changes.

Under board policy, the board has until April 1 to adopt the bell schedule. But several board members said they should adopt them soon so parents will know for sure what they're facing this fall.

UPDATE

Click here for the handout from the board meeting. It lists the proposed bell schedules.

Wake has fixed some errors with the individual school times from yesterday's handout. I've replaced the link with the new one. Wake made more corrections Thursday.

Wake County school board tables math placement policy

KeungHui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:06:02 -0500

It's late so I'll keep it short.

The first reading of the revised middle school math placement policy was tabled Tueseay night at the suggestion of Wake County school board member John Tedesco. This came in an attempt to block a motion by school board member Jim Martin that would have nixed the policy entirely in favor of forming a working group to evaluate and stop tracking issues.

Martin questioned the need to have a districtwide policy on math placement when one doesn't exist for other subjects. He also criticized the use of the 70 percent EVAAS probability of success as the floor for placing students,

By passing Tedesco's motion, it moves the discussion of the policy to the next board meeting. Ruth Steidinger, senior director of middle school programs, said the middle schools will do math placement this month for the upcoming school year and need guidance soon on what criteria to use.

Wake County school board meeting pushing past 11 p.m.

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:07:58 -0500

The Wake County school board meeting is running past 11 p.m. despite an effort to adjourn the meeting.

Pursuant to board policy, board chairman Kevin Hill said he needed a vote to continue the meeting past 11 p.m. He said they need to continue because staff had time-sensitive items.

School board member Debra Goldman then made a motion to adjourn the meeting. That vote took priority but was defeated with only Goldman, Chris Malone and Deborah Prickett supporting adjournment.

With the motion defeated, the board voted to continue with the meeting.

UPDATE

A second motion from Goldman at 11:11 p.m. to adjourn the meeting was also defeated.

A third motion from Goldman at 11:18 p.m. was defeated.

With all business done, the motion passed to adjourn at 11:20 p.m.

Principals named to Enloe High School and other Wake County schools

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:42:56 -0500

Wake County school leaders announced tonight the appointments and transfers of seven permanent and seven interim principals.

Scott Lyons was named principal of Enloe High in Raleigh with a salary of $99,666. He's been principal of Leesville Road High since 2009. He used to be an assistant principal at Enloe.

Christopher McCabe will be principal of Heritage Middle in Wake Forest with a salary of $93,303. He's been principal of North Forest Pines Drive Elementary since 2007.

Diann Kearney will become principal of Martin Middle in Raleigh with a salary of $99,276. She's been principal of Conn Elementary since 2003.

Paula Trantham was named principal of the new Abbotts Creek Elementary opening in Raleigh with a salary of $83,903. She's been principal of Millbrook Elementary since 2007.

Tammie Sexton will become principal of the new Richland Creek Elementary in Wake Forest with a salary of $89,561. She's been principal of Wakelon Elementary since 2005.

Carl Grant will become principal of Forest Pines Elementary in Raleigh with a salary of $81,138. He's been an assistant principal at Brassfield Elementary since last year.

Julia "Chell" Smith was named principal of Wake Forest Elementary with a salary of $79,094. She's been principal of West Lake Elementary since 2009.

Among the interim principals: Teresa Abron wlll go to Fox Road Elementary, Thomas Dixon will be at Leesville Road High, Ed Gainor to Millbrook Elementary, Charles Langley to West Lake Elementary, Craig Matthews to Holly Ridge Elementary, Gerald Pickett to Conn Elementary and George Risinger to North Forest Pines Elementary.

UPDATE

Click here to view the bio sheets.

Wake County school board obtains sites for off-campus ninth-grade centers for Garner High and Panther Creek High

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:23:20 -0500

The Wake County school board voted tonight to acquire two sites to relieve overcrowding at Garner and Panther Creek high schools.

The school system will pay $1.75 million to buy the Garner Towne Square 10 theater, located at 2600 Timber Drive. The theater, which closed in 2010, will be converted to operate as an off-campus ninth-grade center for the nearby Garner High.

The school system will pay $12.38 per square feet to lease a 77,574-sq. ft. office building at 3700 Pleasant Church Grove Road in Morrisville. It would be a six-year lease, starting July 1, with a 3 percent annual escalation. The building will be converted to operate as an off-campus ninth-grade center for Panther Creek High.

Wake County school board extends Superintendent Tony Tata's contract

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:30:22 -0500

The Wake County school board voted tonight to extend Superintendent Tony Tata’s contract by six months.

Tata’s contract will now run through December 2014. School board chairman Kevin Hill said the extension will align Tata’s contract with his annual evaluation cycle.

Tata was hired as superintendent in December 2010.

New Democratic members of Wake County school board speak out on student assignment

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:10:20 -0500

The three new Democratic Wake County school board members all said tonight they're still planning on making changes to the new student assignment plan.

“I want the public to know that it is my intention and that of several other board members to monitor the data as it comes in,” said new Democratic board member Susan Evans. “We will respond to things that we feel warrant immediate response.”

Evans, speaking during the board comment section of the meeting, expressed frustration that they ran out of time to discuss the assignment plan during the work session.

New board members Jim Martin and Christine Kushner also sounded out during the board member comment portion of the meeting.

Kushner said they’ll monitor the plan to make it better.

Martin said he still has concerns about the plan and wants the board to discuss Feb. 21 a way to set up a control to prevent schools from having drastic demographic shifts as a result of the new plan.

Wake County school board to have most speakers wait until end of tonight's meeting

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:03:55 -0500

There are 43 speakers signed up for tonight's Wake County school board meeting.

The eight speakers for agenda topics are talking about math placement, student assignment and the Alves contract. The non-agenda topic speakers are on issues such as student assignment and mediation for the school board protesters.

The board has decided to go for 30 minutes with the rest of the speakers coming at the end of the meeting. It could go two hours if they lef everyone talk at the start of the meeting.

The Republican board majority took flak for making people wait. The reaction to the same practice from the new Democratic majority remains to be seen.

Wake County school board may buy vacant Garner theater for ninth-grade center

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:41:20 -0500

The Wake County school board could vote today to buy a vacant movie theater in Garner to help with overcrowding at Garner High School.

Don Haydon, the school system’s chief facilities and operations office, told board members he’ll ask them for permission during a closed session tonight for authorization to buy the theater. The Garner Towne Square 10 theater would be retrofitted to house freshmen from Garner High.

Details of the purchase price and cost for renovating the theater were not immediately available.

Located off U.S. 70 and Timber Drive in the Garner Towne Square shopping center, the 10-screen theater closed in October 2010. The operators of the theater blamed the closure on the slow economy and a lease dispute with the shopping center’s owner.

Haydon and school board member John Tedesco, who represents Garner, said town officials were supportive of the deal. Tedesco said the town is willing to make infrastructure improvements to improve access to the theater from the nearby Garner High.

Garner High is experiencing overcrowding that has led to a large number of classroom trailers on the campus.

One way that the school system has dealt with high school overcrowding is to use off-campus properties near the schools to handle the overflow. This means using the off-campus building as a ninth-grade center.

In addition to the capacity benefits, supporters of ninth-grade centers say they help freshmen better transition into high school not being around the upper classmen.

For instance, the school system is leasing a former Winn-Dixie supermarket in Wake Forest to house a ninth-grade center for Wakefield High.

Wake County school board to discuss bell schedule changes and student assignment plan changes

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:06:59 -0500

Could the Wake County school board decide after all to implement for this fall seat set-asides at the high-performing schools or lift the priority for students from low-performing nodes?

Both topics are part of the student assignment update that will be presented at the work session. Topics, according to the handout, include assignment priorities for displaced magnet students and the number of AG students accepted into sixth-grade at Ligon and Carnage middle schools.

Also on the agenda, is a staff presentation to change the bell schedules for nearly all of the schools this fall.

In the proposal, the majority of schools would start and end 10 minutes later. But 42 schools would see their schedules shift by 11 or minutes this fall with 18 of them having their times changed by 50 minutes or more.

Under the new schedule, the majority of elementary schools that now run from 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. would operate from 9:25 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. In addition, several elementary schools that now start at 8:30 a.m. or earlier like Adams, Davis Drive and Green are proposed now to start at 9:25 a.m.

The new schedule proposes having some high schools that now start at 8:05 a.m. like Broughton, East Wake, Green Hope and Sanderson begin this fall at 7:25 a.m. It would put those schools in line with the majority of Wake high schools that currently start at 7:25 a.m.

How much time for the topics will depend on how long the board spends today on school board member Debra Goldman's charges that the new board majority has violated board policies in areas such as the way meetings are set and how the organizational meeting was held Dec. 6.

Board member Jim Martin has asked they set a time limit so they can discuss the other agenda topics. Board chairman Kevin Hill is also asking if they can move the discussion along to get to other topics.

UPDATE

The school board ran out of time to discuss the student assignment update.

Click here for the online story about the bell schedule proposal.

Wake County school board discussing student assignment and other issues today

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:58:32 -0500

The Wake County school board has a lot crammed on its agenda today, including student assignment, school bus routing, the math placement policy and selling the Noble Road property.

That doesn't include the other items that may crop op, such as revisiting the mediation issue with the school board protesters and extending Superintendent Tony Tata's contract.

Let's start with the work session agenda, where we'll see if the new Democratic board majority heeds calls from its supporters to change the student assignment plan. Staff will give an update on the plan.

Supporters like Bob Geary say the board needs to make changes before the close of the first round of applications on Feb. 24. Add in calls from groups like the state NAACP and the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.

Also during the work session, Tata will reveal the plan he mentioned last week that would "transform" school transportation. Staff will make a presentation on a proposed bus routing system for the 2012-13 school year.

The extent of the routing changes could also have an impact on the assignment plan.

There will also be a discussion during the work session on reallocating money from the 2006 bond issue to pay for the single-sex leadership academies. Considering how they've already named principals and conducted the application process for the leadership schools, members of the new majority who've raised concerns about the program would seem to have little choice but to approve the funding today.

You've also got, time permitting in the work session, discussion on a board vote to allow speakers to have three minutes and on board committee structure.

During the regular meeting, the board will vote on the math placement policy, selling the Noble Road site and hiring Michael Alves' consulting firm.

During public comment, expect speakers to urge the school board to reconsider the decision to not seek mediation with the protesters. Also look for speakers who want to expand the pool of students who'd be eligible for the top math tracks in middle school.

At the very end, the Republican board members may get a closed-session discussion on extending's Tata contract.

Wake County school board to vote on hiring Michael Alves to help implement new student assignment plan

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:45:10 -0500

Michael Alves stands to get hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Wake County school system for his help implementing the new controlled-choice student assignment plan.

The school board will vote today on this contract to pay the Alves Educational Consulting Group up to $110,000 for the rest of the fiscal year. The contract pays Alves' firm for services in support of implementation of the assignment plan and the continued utilization of his proprietary "Controlled Choice" software system.

The contract expires June 30. But the contract also contains wording that it's expected to be renewed and in effect for at least the next three years.

The initial money would come from the Office of Transformation's 2011-12 budget.

Initially, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce hired Alves and was paying for his services, including the use of his software. Now the cost is being shifted over to the school system.

The school system used Alves' software for the magnet school application process that took place in December. The software is also being used for the ongoing proximity choice round selection process.

During a school board discussion in January, staff said that they were using Alves' software to make sure the implementation of the plan would go smoothly. Chief Business Officer David Neter had also said they were looking at other software as a long-term alternative. But it looks like they settled on sticking with Alves.

UPDATE

The contract was approved 6-3. Jim Martin voted no. I'm not sure who else did.

Wake County school system trying to find buyers for former administrative buildings

KeungHui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:00:00 -0500

It's not been easy for the Wake County school system to sell the three former administration buildings it owns in Raleigh.

As noted in today's article, the school board will vote today on an offer of $2.6 million for the Noble Road property. It's $900,000 less than the school system had hoped to get.

Proceeds from the sale are supposed to help pay for the cost of leasing and operating the new headquarters in Cary. As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, there are some questions as well about how that lease deal was handed.

Grubb & Ellis did both the analysis that recommended the lease option and the lease deal for Crossroads. They got an undisclosed commission from the lease.

A firm both advising and representing a tenant might be inclined to pick a more expensive deal, because the agents’ commission was based on the amount paid by the tenant, said County Attorney Scott Warren.

“We would ask conflict-of-interest type questions,” he said. “We would insist on knowing exactly what commission a broker acting on behalf of Wake would receive.”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about other than anybody can armchair-quarterback," responded Rex Thomas, CEO of Grubb & Ellis|Thomas Linderman Graham.

Thomas said the company’s analysis was completely in the system’s best interest.

“We always operate on what’s best for our client, period,” Thomas said. “We communicate everything to the client and it’s up to them to make the decision.”

Don Haydon, the school system’s chief facilities and operations officer, said staff vetted the work done by Grubb & Ellis before supporting the leasing option at Crossroads.

“We went through their analysis,” Haydon said. “We didn’t just say, ‘Gee, thanks.’ The determination was that it was the best option by far.”

Former school board chairman Ron Margiotta was the only member of the board to oppose hiring Grubb in November 2009. In June 2010, he raised concerns but didn't have a vote as board chairman when the lease deal was unanimously approved by the rest of the board.

"Twenty years from now, those people are going to say, ‘What were we thinking about 20 years ago?'" said Margiotta, who believes the system should have invested in a building of its own. “After 20 years, we weren’t going to have anything."

School board member Chris Malone said he generally agreed that owning is better than leasing. But he said the ability to get so much money so quickly in the middle of the recession made the lease deal "perfect sense" at the time. He said it was particularly attractive that the sale would lead to so much up front money in the first five years.

"We are in a deep recession," Malone said. "This might have been the best of a bad situation."

Back to the sale of the buildings, which Grubb said could generate $12.3 million. The biggest chunk was to come from the Wake Forest Road building, which they had projected to sell for $7.9 million.

Since the deal was approved in 2010, the real estate market has not gotten better. Wake is paying $20,300 a month to maintain the three buildings. Haydon said they've budgeted that through June 2013.

"We’ve had quite a few expressions of interest,” Haydon said. “We think it’s just going to be a matter of time before they’ll be sold.”

How much Wake gets remains to be seen. For instance, the district is saving money by handling the sale of the Wake Forest Road building itself without going through a real estate agent. The district is asking for $9.8 million, or $99 per square feet.

"The values may not come in as high as we thought we'd get," Haydon said.

Altbough Haydon said he's not worried about the buildings still not being sold yet, it is a concern for some other people.

“In a perfect world, the other properties would have sold quickly,” said school board chairman Kevin Hill. “I’m concerned inasmuch as it’s costing Wake County and the taxpayers additional funds.”

“It’s a good idea to move to a new location,” added County Commissioner Tony Gurley. “The deal they got was cheaper than building on their own. But they’ve got to sell those buildings.”

UPDATE

The sale of the Noble Road site was approved 8-1 with only John Tedesco in dissent.