Draft Wake school assignment plan online Friday evening

The link for the address look-up will be at the top of the home page.

School officials emphasized that the assignments are still in draft form and could change as the school board continues to review the plan.

Capacity issues within the growing school district hampered the choice plan, prompting the school board in June to direct staff to recommend a new assignment proposal for the 2013-14 school year. The board, with a newly elected Democrat-backed majority, requested that staff bring back a base assignment for each Wake County address while maintaining stability for families who have been burdened by disruptive reassignments in recent years.

The move came just eight months after the former Republican-backed majority voted to implement the controlled choice plan.

At a meeting Tuesday, the school board heard the staff's assignment plan proposal but decided to hold off on five public hearings and a scheduled late October vote. Board members said the proposal needed "robust discussion" before it could be adopted, but generally agreed that it was a positive step toward a better assignment plan for the district.

Under the new plan proposal, every residential address will have a corresponding base elementary, middle and high school assignment that considers student achievement, stability, proximity, capacity, neighborhood planning and anticipated growth.

All new families, as well as families who move to a new address within the county, will be assigned to a base school.

This past year, some parents were shocked when they moved right across from a school but couldn't get their children enrolled there because choice rounds were over and seats were filled. Under the new plan, however, students who live in the base area will get priority.