Is security too lax at Wake County schools and is locking all doors, including the main entrance, the answer?

Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton and board member Debra Goldman tackled school security in separate interviews last week on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF. School security has become a major topic again following last month's Connecticut school massacre.

Goldman felt security was too lax. Sutton agreed that security needs to be reviewed but said the decision of whether to lock all the doors is best left to the principals.

Should Wake County teachers be allowed to carry firearms in school?

The idea of allowing teachers to carry firearms in school, which is now prohibited by law, has gotten a lot of national discussion following last month's Connecticut school massacre. The General Assembly may pass legislation this year giving North Carolina teachers the option to carry guns on campus.

In separate radio interviews last week, two Wake County school board members gave different views on the issue. Board member Debra Goldman said she'd be in favor of allowing teachers to carry firearms on campus while board chairman Keith Sutton said he was opposed.

Political consultant Perry Woods is demanding that Wake County school board member Debra Goldman retract statements she made to Cary police in 2010 suggesting that he broke into her car during a 2009 appearance at the studios of WPTF.

In this letter dated today, Woods' attorney, Jack Nichols, demands Goldman write an apology and issue a retraction for all the "defamatory statements" in the police report because they are "false and slanderous." Nichols warns that unless the apology and retraction are published by Nov. 1 they may file a lawsuit against Goldman.

In an interview Monday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Woods denied he had anything to do with the break in of Goldman's car. LuMaye said Woods was in the studio during the whole debate and "would never" break into a person's car.

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.

Depending on your point of view, it's either good or bad that Wake County commissioners are apparently not having that big of an impact on shaping next year's school construction program and bond referendum.

Starting in October, the commissioners and school board will begin holding joint meetings as they go through the steps needed to get a bond referendum on the ballot in the spring or fall of 2013. The school system would prefer a spring bond vote.

Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley said that this year's process, in terms of interaction between both boards, is far different than what took place for the 2006 bond issue.

Without explicitly saying that Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's job is in jeopardy, school board member John Tedesco pretty much made it clear that's what is happening.

In an interview Monday afternoon on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Tedesco said he can't comment on specifically what was discussed at Monday's closed session because it's a personnel issue. But he added "people can infer what they want at that point but unfortunately I can't comment any further although I'm sure I would like to."

LuMaye asked whether any of the Republican board members would provide the vote needed for Tuesday's (today's) meeting to add it to the agenda as opposed to waiting until next Tuesday's meeting when the Democrats only need a simple majority.

Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill is pointing to the need to change the student assignment plan for diversity reasons and downplaying concerns the recent vote will negatively impact a looming school bond issue.

In this interview last Tuesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Hill said the reason for passing the student assignment directive was the data they had been receiving over the last month about school demographic trends from the new choice plan. Hill said they were concerned that they could add 10 new high-needs schools with high levels of poverty.

"I've heard the superintendent on record all spring basically say there's going to need to be some changes, there's going to be some tweaks," Hill said. "As a board we've been supportive of the choice plan through the spring, but I think this data was kind of alarming in terms of where enrollment was going at several schools. The superintendent again is on record as saying it's cheaper to keep a school from becoming high risk than to deal with a school once it is high risk."

Wake County school board members John Tedesco and Keith Sutton painted sharply different views on the issue of choice in student assignment and last week's board vote for staff to develop an address-based plan with a diversity component.

In this interview last Thursday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Tedesco said that the move to a choice plan had "changed the culture" of the school system to "put the families first." He said it promoted "free market principles" by causing schools to compete to attract students.

In this interview last Friday on the Bill LuMaye Show, board vice chairman Sutton said that Wake was "too large" to have the degree of choice that was in the choice plan. Sutton said there would be "some significant changes" made when the new plan goes into effect for the 2013-14 school year.

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."