The new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board is now in place following a packed swearing-in ceremony.

After being sworn in, the new members talked about focusing on improving education for Wake’s 146,000 students, listening to the families and trying to go beyond the 5-4 votes on major issues that took place over the past two years.

“If this board comes together with the common denominator of all children all schools, we’ll continue to have a very successful 16th largest school district in the nation,” said school board member Kevin Hill.

Wake County school board candidate Christine Kushner is walking on a tight rope promoting her endorsement from the Wake County Democratic Party while also saying she's for leaving partisan politics behind.

"While I fully recognize and support the need to leave partisan politics out of school board decision-making, I will carry with me the values of fairness and opportunity that are represented by the Democratic Party,” Kushner said in a press release Wednesday on the endorsement. “All children deserve a high quality public education in Wake County. Making sure that happens is the job of the Wake School Board.”

Kushner made sure to also mention in her press release that her campaign manager, Anne Sherron, is a "lifelong Republican."

It looks like we now have the person who will emerge as the standard bearer in District 6 for supporters of the old diversity policy.

Christine Kushner, a longtime school volunteer, magnet parent and member of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, announced today that she would seek the District 6 seat on the Wake County school board.

Her press release hits on the same themes echoed by other critics of the board majority. She talks about the need to make data-driven decisions and avoiding creating low-performing schools.

Wake County school board member Carolyn Morrison announced today that she won't run for the District 6 seat this fall.

In her press release, Morrison listed four reasons for not running for office. She cited how much further the new Central Office in Cary will be from her Raleigh home, her desire not to be in a partisan campaign, the desire to spend more time with her family and wanting to devote her time to governing instead of campaigning.

"Removing myself from candidacy and campaigning will allow me more freedom and flexibility to devote my time and energy to the more important issues affecting our students, families, and staff:  a new reassignment plan; budgetary issues; updating the composition of the Board Advisory Council for District 6 due to the recent approval of the redistricting plan; and assisting our new superintendent whenever/wherever needed," Morrison wrote.

We don't know yet who will run for the District 6 Wake County school board seat but at least we know who won't be doing so.

Raleigh attorney Neil Riemann says he will not run for the District 6 seat. He didn't provide a reason.

Riemann had been considering a run in District 5 only to have his precinct moved to District 6 as part of this year's redistricting process.

This week's scheduled vote on the new Wake County school board redistricting proposal could have a major impact on this fall's election.

As noted in today's article, the new maps move some possible candidates into new districts. It could cause at least one incumbent not to run and impact the decisions of other prospective candidates.

The new maps muddy the waters for some potential candidates who support the old diversity policy.

FIXED LINK FOR WORK SESSION AGENDA

Here's more about what was said at last week's OCR meeting at Martin Street Baptist Church.

Click here for an earlier post about the meeting. Most of the speakers and the crowd were opposed to the school board majority's elimination of the diversity policy.

The meeting kicked off with the Rev. Earl Johnson, pastor of Martin Street Baptist, getting laughs and applause from the crowd when he quipped that the church was "a very neutral site by the way." That was in response to the complaints from the school system about holding the meeting at the church.

Is it the responsibility of Wake County school board members to ask for how much money they think they need or how much they think they can get?

As noted in today's article, that represented the split among Republican and Democratic board members when voting on the school budget proposal on Tuesday. Democrats on the board argued they need to ask for at least the same amount in local per-pupil funding as last year, even if it means asking for more money from the county commissioners.

"While I think the superintendent's budget is a very good one that has some very innovative ideas that protects classrooms and is overall a very good budget, I do think that we have a responsibility as a board to seek more funding, particularly given that we're in the third year of flat funding," said Democratic board member Keith Sutton.

More to come later but here's the quick rundown on the proposed new school board redistricting maps for Wake County.

The school board will post the proposed map online before a May 10 public hearing. A vote could take place May 17.

Attorney Kieran Shanahan said they tried not to drastically change districts in their efforts to balance out the populations. He said each district is less than 1 percent variance in population.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR DRAFT MAP FROM SHANAHAN AND ONES DEVELOPED BY THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS AND GREAT SCHOOLS IN WAKE

New Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata got a first-hand look Tuesday at what school board meetings will be like, from emotional public speakers to bickering by board members.

Most of the 39 speakers who signed up railed against the school board over the student reassignment plan and the elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity. Some speakers got even more personal, particularly  directing their attacks at school board member John Tedesco.

Several speakers welcomed Tata. But Tata was also warned by speakers to restore diversity or else he and the school district would face dire consequences.