Wake County school board member John Tedesco has landed on his feet as president of the newly formed N.C. Center for Education Reform.

The center announced today that Tedesco would lead the group in its mission to "transform" the state's public schools, which it says "need a revolution." The group says it wants to address areas such as the dropout rate, the school-to-prison pipeline and how many graduates need remediation at community colleges.

“We proudly welcome Mr. John Tedesco to lead our efforts at NCCER as a non-partisan not-for-profit organization committed to producing measurable results for all students in North Carolina,” according to the group’s press release. “His expertise and passion in education, non_profit management and development will serve as a spark to create a powerful transformation of education in North Carolina.”

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Look for another "editorial message" on school diversity to appear on WRAL soon.

As noted in today's article, Capitol Broadcasting began airing a television spot on Wednesday featuring high school students that touts why diversity matters in the Wake County school system. Jim Goodmon, the company's CEO, said soon will come a second spot with teachers discussing the value of diversity.

Despite the timing, Goodmon said he's not using the TV spots, called editorial messages, to lobby for keeping the current diversity policy. He said they're just a statement on the principle of diversity.

Capitol Broadcasting has hit the airwaves with an ad campaign touting the value of diversity in the Wake County school system.

The television ad, featuring several Wake students, touts why "diversity matters." It's the latest and most direct effort by Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon to influence the ongoing debate about the diversity policy in the Wake school system.

Capital Broadcasting owns several media outlets, including WRAL.

UPDATE

Click here for the online story.

Art Pope is denying being the architect of the new Wake County school board majority and Thomas Farr is saying he advised against sending out controversial postcards in the 1990 U.S. Senate campaign.

As noted in today's article, Pope said "to say I was the architect was overstated.” He's referring to an Oct. 7 e-mail message from Wake GOP finance chair Marc Scruggs in which he tells school board member Ron Margiotta that they followed Pope's plan in the election.

Pope says he raised money for the school board candidates and gave advice to Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope, his distant cousin. But he says that was all he did during the campaign.