Through MON 1/25.  Wake County School Board is asking for comments on year-round schools.
Parents of students attending Wake County public schools are invited to provide their opinions on year-round schools.  Wake County residents without children in Wake County public schools can also leave comments. The online survey can be completed at -  http://www.wcpss.net/feedback/comments/  Survey will be available until Jan 25.

Public Hearings seeking comments on Year-Round Schools:
Four community meetings have been scheduled to give residents the opportunity to publicly comment on year-round schools.  Each meeting runs from 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. in the schools' auditoriums.
**Tuesday, Feb. 9 at Holly Springs High School, 5329 Cass Holt Road, Holly Springs
**Thursday, Feb. 18 at Heritage High School, 1150 Forestville Road, Wake Forest
**Tuesday, Feb. 23 at Leesville Road High School, 8409 Leesville Road, Raleigh
**Thursday, Feb. 25 at Panther Creek High School, 6770 McCrimmon Parkway, Cary

MON 1/25.  12noon – 1pm.   NC Women United January Membership Meeting
North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 123 West Main Street, Suite 700, Durham.
Please join us for the NCWU monthly membership meeting scheduled for January 25, 2010.  No RSVP is required.  Parking details: The building is located near the corner of West Main and Corcoran.  There is a parking along the street and in the deck on Corcoran.  We will learn about the current work of NCCADV and their legislative priorities in the 2010 "short session." There will also be important NCWU updates on the exciting work taking place early this year including the Legislative Report Card Release and the new Member Showcase program.  http://www.ncwu.org/                 866-518-7657         866-518-7657

MON 1/25.  6pm.  Wake County Democratic Party Board Meeting.
Goodwin House, 220 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh.
4th Mondays of the month at 6pm.  (back)

MON 1/25.  6pm.  Meeting of the Triangle Labor and Civil Rights Working Group - Workers' Narratives
The Center for the Study of the American South/Love House, 410 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill
Professor Roxanne Newton and graduate student Tim Prizer will present on their uses of workers' narratives and memories in their respective projects. Roxanne Newton has written and lectured extensively on the experiences of North Carolina women as workers, unionists, mothers, feminists, and activists. Her work blends narrative and analysis to tell working women's stories and interpret their multiple perspectives. Tim Prizer's work focuses on race, nostalgia, and memory in the now-defunct southern turpentine industry. He has conducted fieldwork with former turpentine woodsmen in South Georgia. The panelists' presentations will be followed by a roundtable discussion. Please contact jfink@email.unc.edu  for more information. Subscribe to our listserv at lcrwg@duke.edu for information on upcoming events and meetings

TUE 1/26.  7pm.  Western Wake Dems meeting – Special guest NC Sec of State Elaine Marshall
Glenaire Retirement Community, 4000 Glenaire Cir, Cary
The event is free and open to the public.  Elaine Marshall, one of three Democratic candidates for the US Senate, will speak to the Western Wake Democrats.  Marshall, the current NC Secretary of State, will be running in the Democratic primary this spring for the opportunity to face incumbent Republican Richard Burr. Marshall has been endorsed by 23 current and former Wake County elected officials. She is the first women to be elected to a state-wide office in North Carolina. She was first elected Secretary of State in 1996 and has been reelected three times.    (back)

TUE 1/26.  7pm.  Escuela: Rights! Camera! Action! Human Rights Film Series Screening
Duke University, Rare Book Room, Perkins Library, Durham.   Parking available in the Bryan Center deck
There are over 800,000 students enrolled in migrant education programs in the United States and, of those, only 45-50% ever finish high school. Escuela personalizes these glaring statistics through the honest portrait of a teenage Mexican-American farm worker, Liliana Luis. Centered around the life of Liliana, a daughter entering her first year of high school, Hannah Weyer follows the back-and-forth movement of the family between their home in Texas near the borderlands and the California agricultural fields. Despite the best efforts of the school systems to accommodate students like Liliana, the social and emotional life of this young woman is constantly in flux. The film will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Principal Jeanne Bishop, E.K. Powe Elementary School, and TBA. This screening is cosponsored by the Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South at Duke University. http://humanrights.fhi.duke.edu/practice-human-rights/events

TUE 1/26.  7pm.  Public Lecture, Forgiveness Pays.
UNC, Sonja Haynes Stone Center, Theatre, Chapel Hill
Featuring criminal justice activists, Linda Biehl and Ntobeko Peni. Linda's daughter, Amy, was killed in a racially motivated mob attack, and Ntobeko Peni was one of the perpetrators, imprisoned for five years before being granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Today, Peni working for the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust (ABFT), an NGO created in her memory, focusing on running after-school programs in dance, drama, music, and HIV peer-education for at-risk and impoverished South African youth, and with the Forgiveness Project.   This event is free and open to the public.

WED 1/27.  12noon – 1:30pm.  Wake Regional Education Roundtable – Understand Your Schools
Bentwinds Golf and Country Club, 6536 Dornoch Place, Fuquay-Varina.                919-552-5656         919-552-5656
Register at - http://www.wakeedpartnership.org/events/education_roundtable.htm  Cost is $10 and includes lunch.  This Roundtable discussion will focus on what it means to guarantee every graduate is ready to compete in a global economy.  The Partnership's report Suspending Disbelief offers a framework for change in schools.  Its findings describe what a world-class school system would look like in areas such as basic student competencies, curriculum standards, assessment, testing, and the way time is used in the classroom.  (Copies of the publication will be provided for all attendees.)

WED 1/27.  6pm.  Energy, Climate and the Poles
FedEx Global Education Center, Nelson Mandela Auditorium, Chapel Hill
Learn about Energy, Climate and the Poles from Gerald Cecil, Department of Physics & Astronomy at UNC. Comparing the relatively untouched Antarctic to the Arctic, where oil companies are active, Cecil will discuss the future of energy and the Poles

WED 1/27.  7:30pm.  Balance & Accuracy in Journalism - Gaza Freedom March participants report... also: Pressing for a Just Peace.
Community Church of Chapel Hill, 106 Purefoy Road, Chapel Hill
We'll hear from several local people who traveled to Egypt for the recent Gaza Freedom March.  We'll also hear from local leaders in the Mideast peace movement, on ways to help save Israel, Palestine and our own country from  cruel, unnecessary and endless war.  Plans to educate and inform, as well as actions drawn from the South African anti Apartheid struggle  will be proposed.  For more info contact Jerry Markatos                919-542-2139         919-542-2139

WED 1/27.  9pm.  The State of the Union Address
The State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama's first, will be given on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 9 p.m. eastern. President Obama's speech to Congress will be broadcast live on television as well as streamed live on whitehouse.gov.

THUR 1/28.  11:30am.   Democratic Women of Wake County monthly luncheon meeting.
NC State University Club, 4200 Hillsborough Street.
The program speakers will be the three Democrats running for contested positions in North Carolina’s appellate courts. Judge Bob Hunter is a candidate for the NC Supreme Court. Judge Jane Gray and attorney Leto Copeley are candidates for the NC Court of Appeals.  The buffet lunch lines open at 11:30 am with the program starting at 12:00 Noon. The cost of the luncheon is $15.00 payable at the door. For reservations email Nancy Looper at info@dwwc.net  or call Martha Farmer at 782-1272. The deadline for reservations is Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 10:00 am.  (back)

THUR 1/28.  5 – 8pm.   Public education forum -  Transit in the Triangle: the Benefits for You and the Region
McKimmon Center in Raleigh.
Held by The Institute for Emerging Issues, in conjunction with WUNC TV and Blueprint America.  This forum will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the importance of transit for the Triangle region, how your life could be improved with transit, what does transit look like today, and how other metro regions have benefited from transit and transit-oriented development.  The Capital Area Friends of Transit, the Durham-Orange Friends of Transit and WakeUP Wake County are partners in the forum. This event is free and open to the public.  For more details see http://wakeupwakecounty.com/cms/   (back)

THUR 1/28.  6pm.  Northern Wake Democrats Meeting – Rep Darren Jackson to Speak on Money Matters: Small Businesses & the Budget
Milton's Pizza & Pasta, 8853 Six Forks Road, Raleigh
NC Representative Darren Jackson to Speak at the Northern Wake Dems.  Registration at 6pm Program at 6:30pm.  Hosted by the Northern Wake Dems.  (back)

THUR 1/28.  6:30pm.   Annual Meeting/Dinner of the Triangle Interfaith Alliance
Apex Mosque, 733 Center Street, Apex.                919-362-0403         919-362-0403
Deadline for registration is Monday, January 25th. The first 75 participants to register will be accepted.  The program will include: Panel discussion of the Amazing Faith Dinners Nov. 2009, Report of the Crop Walk 2009, Annual Report by the President, Wm. L. Bingham   http://www.interfaithalliance-nc.org/index.html

SAT 1/30.  9th Annual African-American Cultural Celebration
The N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh
Join the museum in celebrating African American culture at this family-friendly annual event!  http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/