Former Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta is not happy with the plea deals that were reached with the Rev. William Barber and the other people who were arrested at school board meetings.

In an interview Monday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Margiotta said he agrees with requiring the protesters to perform community service but is against having the charges dismissed when they complete the work. He said he wished the protesters had been fined to repay the security costs at school board meetings.

"It was a matter of our District Attorney just wanting to not push too hard on the issue," Margiotta said. "I think it's that simple."

Wake County school board member Debra Goldman is defending Superintendent Tony Tata and accusing board members Susan Evans and Christine Kushner of having violated their oaths.

In an interview Tuesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Goldman tell the conservative talk show host that Tata was "completely correct here" in emailing Evans and Kushner because "they've refused to disaffiliate from special-interest groups," namely the the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.

Goldman points to Evans and Kushner accepting the award last month for GSIW and attending the recent GSIW student assignment forum to dispute their statements that they're not involved with the group. She said it's "highly inappropriate to be out there championing a fringe group like this."

Did you feel frightened for your safety when attending Wake County school board meetings during the period of protests and arrests in 2010?

That's the charge that former Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta made during an interview Monday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF to explain why he feels the protesters should go to trial instead of getting mediation.

Margiotta linked the protesters to Students for a Democratic Society, the leftist activist group that dates back to the 1960s. Some of the SDS members formed the Weather Underground, which was linked to bombings in the 1970s.

One question for the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board will be what to do with the vice chair's position on Dec. 6.

The board will have to pick a new chair because Ron Margiotta was defeated last month. But the board doesn't have to replace John Tedesco as vice chairman because his one-year term runs until June.

The board could vote Dec. 6 to replace Tedesco. Or the new majority could take no action on the vice chair's position to allow Tedesco to finish out the term.

Bill LuMaye is warning that the Wake County school board election results means more prison cells will be needed and school board candidate Heather Losurdo wants you to cancel your subscription to The News & Observer.

"Hey congratulations Wake County," LuMaye said on his show today on WPTF. "You've decided on a jobs program. That's right. As you know, the Department of Corrections looks at fourth-grade reading scores in order to build prison cells.

So in the future, based on your voting this past month or so, more Correction officers are going to be needed so you may want to apply right now. Do I sound bitter? No, I'm really not."

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill reiterated today that he isn't out to scrap the new student assignment plan or get rid of Superintendent Tony Tata.

In an interview today on The Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Hill answered the charges being leveled at him by Heather Losurdo that his re-election will result in the assignment plan being junked and a majority that could fire Tata. Hill said the recently adopted plan was 85 to 90 percent there.

"I don't believe that we're going to go back to the old plan," Hill said if he wins. "I've said repeatedly I have no intention of that. That's water under the bridge."

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill said today he has no intention of instituting forced busing if he's re-elected, a charge leveled by opponent Heather Losurdo.

In an interview this morning on The Rick & Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, Hill said the student assignment plan is "workable," but he voted no because of the "few missing components in the model." He pointed to the lack of seat set asides at high-performing schools and the lack of permanent outreach efforts to explain the model to parents.

"I think there will have to be some changes made, but I totally disagree with what I'm continually bombarded with daily that should I be re-elected that we're going to throw this plan out and go back to the old assignment plan," Hill said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. This will be our plan. We have to work on some of the rough edges."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is making the local conservative radio talk show rounds to defend herself against the charges by Progress NC Action that she puffed up her resume.

In an interview Tuesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, LuMaye repeatedly complained about Progress NC Action's charges and the N&O article that appeared in the paper. He asked Losurdo to respond to the charges.

"That's a lie," Losurdo said about the Progress NC charges she overstated her resume when she said she oversaw $2 billion in small business loans in the Carolinas for First Union. "They're lying. I'm telling the truth. I did exactly what I said I did."

Terry Stoops and Perry Woods had a running exchange today on the qualifications of Heather Losurdo and Kevin Hill to be on the Wake County school board.

Stoops, director of education studies for the conservative John Locke Foundation, kicked things off in this blog post today responding to Woods  saying on the Bill LuMaye Show that Losurdo lacked qualifications for being on the board.

Citing the broad qualifications in the state Constitution, Stoops writes that "it is an implicit acknowledgment that experience and credentials do not guarantee competence." He adds that "diverse perspectives and experiences strengthen elected bodies."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is calling the Nov. 8 runoff election a battle to decide whether there will be "forced busing" in the district.

In an interview today on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Losurdo told the conservative talk show host that "there is a very clear choice on Nov. 8th." She then pointed to Kevin Hill's no vote on the student assignment plan as an example of what will happen if Democrats regain the board majority.

"With the four people who were elected to office on Oct. 11th, you can be sure that if my opponent wins this race there will be forced busing in Wake County," Losurdo said. "And he made that very clear in a nice bipartisan vote on this new assignment policy, that is family friendly and gives parents choice for proximity schools, that he would not vote for it."