What's the proper balance between having Wake County school board meetings run efficiently and allowing individual members to get their concerns aired in public?

The school board's policy committee is forwarding along proposed changes to how meetings are run, including how information items can be requested and the minimum notice for bringing information to board members.

But school board member Debra Goldman is concerned that the changes could make it harder for board members to get information items added. She's also concerned that the changes in policy also don't provide a way for minority members to get action items added.

The decision to allow all students in Wake County middle schools and high schools be eligible to participate in interscholastic sports led to some heated rhetoric from the school board.

Under this revised policy adopted two weeks ago, a student at a middle school or high school that doesn't have an interscholastic sports program will now be able to try out at another school designated by the district. The change affects two magnet middle schools, the early colleges, the alternative schools, Hilburn Drive Academy and the two new single-sex leadership academies.

The debate got so heated that school board member Deborah Prickett accused board member Jim Martin of opposing the policy because he personally disliked her, which he denied.  The rhetoric caused board member Christine Kushner and board chairman Kevin Hill to urge their colleagues to show more decorum.

It looks like protesters were wrong if they were hoping that the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board would be more sympathetic that the Republicans were on the issue of mediation instead of prosecution.

As noted in today's article, the school board met in closed session last week and agreed to stick with the decision made by the former majority to recommend that the protesters who disrupted board meetings in 2010 go to trial.

Since it was discussed in closed session, neither the board members or board attorney Ann Majestic are saying why the board decided not to go with mediation.

There's really not much doubt that if the new Wake County student assignment plan is implemented for the 2012-13 school year that it will be changed from what was adopted in October.

But, as noted in today's article, the jury is out on how extensive the changes would be. The starting point will be the Jan. 3 work session in which board members will go through their concerns in detail with staff.

"We’ve got one chance to make it right and for everyone to feel a strong level of comfort,” said Democratic board vice chairman Keith Sutton. “The problem is we’re not getting that comfort level. To raise that level of comfort will require some give and take.”

Departing Wake County school board member Carolyn Morrison has prepared a "last testament" in which she thanks her colleagues and offers advice for the newly elected board members.

Morrison thanks the Republican board members "for helping me grow personally and professionally while becoming a sharper board member."

She tells Superintendent Tony Tata that "I depart with a fuller understanding of the words once written: 'Those who came to scoff, remained to pray.' I will continue to pray!"

Outgoing Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta had some advice to give to the incoming board members and those who will remain on the board after his Dec. 6 departure.

During his final meeting as chairman on Tuesday, Margiotta urged the new board members to work well with county commissioners, Superintendent Tony Tata and staff. Margiotta also urged the new members to not meddle in the operation and affairs of schools.

Margiotta also urged the new Democratic members who knocked him and the Republican majority out of power, to think outside the box and "not simply rely on old solutions."

The anti-Junior ROTC movement appears to be out at tonight's Wake County school board meeting.

Five of the 11 speakers have signed up to speak about a proposal to add an Army JROTC unit at Knightdale High. The board is also set to ratify the prior agreement to set up an Army JROTC program at Garner High.

"JROTC is part of the military industrial complex that promotes and profits from war," said Sandy Irving.

UPDATE

The JROTC program was approved as part of the consent agenda. Only school board member Anne McLaurin voted against the consent agenda. She didn't give a reason.

Did Wake County school board member Kevin Hill make a political mistake by voting against the student assignment plan on Tuesday?

The no vote has given Heather Losurdo, who announced this week that she supported the plan now, something to campaign on against Hill in the Nov. 8 runoff. In a column Tuesday for the liberal Independent weekly, Bob Geary writes that "a yes vote was the better choice for Hill politically."

"But Hill, like his fellow Democrats, is not a politician and he doesn't think like one," Geary writes. "(Sutton is the exception, and he was thinking like a politician; unfortunately, Morrison and McLaurin either didn't get it that he was giving them a good reason to vote no — with Hill — or they simply couldn't bring themselves to cast a political vote.)"

Geary adds that "sure enough, John Tedesco started Facebooking and Tweeting immediately that Hill's vote was partisan, and naysaying." Geary accuses Tedesco of spreading around a "fictitious campaign"  that a new Democratic board majority would fire Superintendent Tony Tata.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is praising Democratic school board members Carolyn Morrison and Anne McLaurin for joining with the Republicans to pass the new student assignment plan.

In a press release today, Losurdo says "their courageous action represents a commitment to public service of the highest order." She says she regrets that McLaurin and Morrison are leaving and adds that they need more leaders like them "who follow their conscience and work for the public good instead of making everything a partisan matter."

"The new assignment policy is our chance to put the bickering and squabbling of the past four or five years behind us, and get to work on improving our schools," Losurdo says in the press release. "I salute Carolyn and Anne for helping make the process of moving from confrontation to cooperation easier."

Was Tuesday's adoption of a new Wake County student assignment plan the culmination of years of study and discussion or a rushed decision?

As noted in today's article, school board members and administrators defended the vote as being necessary to avoid delaying implementation of the plan. But critics, particularly during the public comment section, urged the board to hold off adoption until the newly elected members have their say on the plan.

"The voters spoke," said Robert Hyman. "You lost the election. In effect, the chair of this board has been fired. You owe it to the new board to discuss it with them before you completely lose your moral authority and your legitimacy.”