For those of you who haven't read it yet, the latest issue of the liberal Independent Weekly has a not very flattering account of how some staff members say former Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata berated and belittled them.

The article by Will Huntsberry quotes named and unnamed current and former Central Office staffers who accuse Tata of leading by using tactics of fear and intimidation. The article comes as members of the Democratic board majority have charged that Tata's relations with staff were one of the reasons they fired him.

One example in the Indy article is how former staffer Meredith Weinstein complained that she, a person with a Ph.D. was "told I'm not allowed to speak unless spoken to or interrupt him." She also charged that, rather than motivating them to do well, Tata essentially threatened them they could be replaced.

Could the decision by the Wake County school board's Democratic majority to fire Superintendent Tony Tata come back to haunt them when it comes to high school accreditation?

As noted in today's article, Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, said Monday he’s “troubled” by recent decisions by the the board majority to fire Tata and to drop the choice-based student assignment plan. He said he's concerned about major decisions once again being made along 5-4 partisan lines.

It's not helping the board majority that Elgart has been vocal in praising Tata's actions as superintendent.

The new CTE high school and plans to relocate the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy to the former Thompson School building may finally being forward despite the recent bickering between the Wake County school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, the commissioners approved Monday this memorandum of understanding to lease the former Coca-Cola bottling facility in South Raleigh and renovate it for opening for the 2014-15 school year as the CTE school.

Now the school board will hold a public hearing today on the CTE high school and vote on a resolution requesting commissioners go ahead with the deal.

UPDATE

Amid concerns raised by some board members, a vote will be held Oct. 30 on whether the school should be open to sophomores, juniors and seniors or just juniors and seniors.

The Wake County Taxpayers Association now wants AdvancED to investigate the firing of Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

WCTA announced today it had amended its original complaint against the school system to include the firing of Tata, which it says has left Wake "leaderless." The complaint also faults the board's Democratic majority for holding the discussion in closed session and not allowing a public hearing before the vote.

"This firing was shocking and has had an extremely negative impact on our community and our schools," said WCTA in the amended complaint. "It has become even more clear since the filing of our original complaint, that the majority members of the Wake County Board of Education are under undue influence of the partisan group, Great Schools in Wake (GSIW)."

The battle for state schools superintendent has some notable parallels with the Wake County school board's decision in 2010 over to who to hire as superintendent.

As noted in today's article, State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson, the Democratic incumbent, points to her career as an educator to argue she should get a third term. But Wake County school board member John Tedesco, her Republican challenger, argues that what's not needed is someone like Atkinson who has been part of the "Raleigh education establishment since 1976."

Similar issues were raised in 2010 when the Republican majority on the Wake school board opted to hire Tony Tata, a retired Army general, as superintendent over a career educator. Member of the Democratic board majority, who fired Tata on Sept. 25, had resisted efforts to make it possible for non-educators to hold the position.

Congratulations tonight to Ken Branch of Brentwood Elementary School being named the Wake County school system's 2012 Principal of the Year and Ruth Ann Freeman of Bugg Elementary School being named Assistant Principal of the Year.

An interesting note here is that Brentwood is one of Wake's Renaissance schools, which have come under fire lately from members of the school board's Democratic majority.

Before his firing, Superintendent Tony Tata had repeatedly touted the academic gains at the Renaissance schools. A sore point, for the majority members, is the use of merit pay at the Renaissance schools.

It's looking less likely that the Wake County school board will push for a May 2013 school construction bond issue.

As noted in today's article, school board members Susan Evans, Jim Martin and Chris Malone all said after Wednesday's facilities committee meeting that a fall 2013 bond vote is more realistic. This comes after school board chairman Kevin Hill made similar remarks in Friday's meeting with N&O reporters and editors.

“There’s been a lot that’s gone poorly in the last few months,” Evans said. “The extra time will help us re-earn the public’s trust.”

Lisa Grillo, the Wake County school system's assistant superintendent for special education services, has become the latest high-level administrator to resign since the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

Grillo submitted her resignation today to take the position of chief human resources officer for Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland.

Grillo was hired by Wake in August 2011 to take the newly created $120,000 a year job overseeing special education. Grillo, like Tata, had come to Wake after having worked in the D.C. Public Schools.

Tata was fired by the board's Democratic majority on Sept. 25. Soon afterward, Judy Peppler, the district's chief transformation officer and chief of staff, submitted her resignation.

The Wake County school board's facilities committee will meet today for the first time since the departures of Superintendent Tony Tata and Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Don Haydon.

One of the topics will be start up design for the next school bond issue. Also on the agenda is the schematic design for Cary High School's renovations and geothermal heating and cooling system that would be built at Richland Creek Elementary's permanent campus.

But overshadowing all of these things is the impact recent changes in Wake school leadership will have on the planning for a school construction program and bond in 2013.

The firing of Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata got some air time at the end of the latest edition of NC SPIN that aired over the weekend.

On the show, pundits from the left and right agreed that it was not a politically good decision for the Democratic school board majority to have fired Tata at this time. Panelists also talked about whether the next permanent superintended should be a lifelong educator.

Tom Campbell, the show host, opened the segment by saying that following Wake County schools has been like "watching a yo-yo." Campbell asked John Hood, president of the conservative John Locke Foundation, what he thought of Tata's firing, which he said "was ugly" and "many say it wasn't handled well."