Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill raised nearly $70,000 in his successful reelection bid this fall.

A new report filed today shows that Hill, a Democrat, raised $68,598 and spent $54,322 in the District 3 race. Heather Losurdo, a Republican, hasn't filed her final report yet. But she had reported raising $82,357 through Oct. 24.

Before this year, only one candidate had raised more than $50,000 in a Wake school board race. But at least four candidates hit that mark last fall during the high-stakes election.

Wake County school board member Keith Sutton has raised nearly $20,000 in his bid to keep the District 4 seat.

The new campaign report filed today shows Sutton having raised $19,892 as of Aug. 30 with $12,272.86 on hand. No report has been filed yet by opponent Venita Peyton.

Sutton's biggest individual donor in the new report is Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon, who gave $1,000. It's Goodmon's first recorded school board contribution this season, but he is one of the hosts for a Wake County Democratic Party fundraiser being held next week.

The state NAACP is questioning whether the blue and green plans will avoid resegregating Wake County schools or promote student achievement more than old diversity policy.

In an open letter released today to Superintendent Tony Tata, the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, says school leaders shouldn’t abandon the old efforts of trying to balance schools by family income levels. Barber also asks for a meeting with Tata before a possible school board vote on June 21 on which of the plans to use.

In the letter, Barber raises three questions:

UPDATE

Tata said at today's news conference that he hadn't yet had a chance to review Barber's letter or decide whether to arrange a meeting with the NAACP before next week's vote.

Cash Michaels is standing behind "the good old days days of WCPSS high achievement" under former Wake County Superintendent Bill McNeal.

In a blog post Friday, Michaels, editor of The Carolinian, takes on critics who downplay the high scores that Wake enjoyed in the early-to-mid 2000s when the district's passing rate on state end-of-grade reading exams was more than 90 percent overall and more than 80 percent for black students.

Critics of the old diversity policy have argued that the tests were easy and that large gains were also made statewide. But Michaels shoots back that Wake was still doing better than the rest of the state and with less money

Is it "a slap in the face" to Wake County teachers to say that some of them set low expectations for students?

That's a contention Cash Michaels makes in the second part of his series in The Carolinian looking at Walnut Creek Elementary School. In this week's article, Michaels contends that teacher morale has gotten worse since the GOP school board majority took steps such as ending the diversity policy and questioning the expectation levels set by teachers.

“I sincerely appreciate the hard work of all of our teachers and principals,” said Democratic school board member Kevin Hill in the article. “I take serious offense every time I hear a member of the board talk about a culture of low expectations (in the system) for our children. I think it’s a slap in the face to our teachers and our principals.”

Student assignment and diversity accounted for much of the questions that Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata faced Thursday night at the meeting organized by NC HEAT.

As noted in today's article, Tata talked several times about the task force that will hold its first meeting this afternoon for developing a new long-term student assignment plan. He repeatedly said that a focus of the task force will be on figuring out a way to avoid leaving schools with high concentrations of low-performing students.

"It’s clear that for me the student assignment plan really has to address avoiding high concentrations of low-performing students," Tata told the crowd. "That’s the framework and prism from which I’m addressing.”

The state NAACP has released a copy of the opening statement from yesterday's meeting with Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

In the press release today, the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, says they were "pleased to have this interchange" with Tata. But Barber also reiterates support for Wake's old socioeconomic diversity policy, which he calls a "nationally recognized, successful plan."

Here's his statement:

What do Wake County school board meetings and the Cartoon Network have in common?

The New York Times thinks both have a lot in common according to this article that was posted online Sunday night and will appear in Monday's print edition. The Times article notes the more recent developments in the Wake school diversity controversy and how the Wake School Choice Plan could be the solution.

"The (school) board is split five Republicans to four Democrats, and for the last 15 months meetings have looked like a Cartoon Network special, featuring in the lead role Mr. (John) Tedesco, 36, the most verbal member of the majority," according to the article. "He is single with no children and has lots of time on his hands to stir things up."

UPDATE

No front page this time. The article appeared on pg. 11 in the A section of Monday's New York Times.

Tuesday's Wake County school board meeting will include the swearing in of new Superintendent Tony Tata, a state of the system address by school board chairman Ron Margiotta and the vote on the 2011-12 student reassignment plan.

Things kick off at 4 p.m. with N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough giving the oath of office to Tata. The Rev. Marion Robinson, pastor of St. Matthew AME Church in Raleigh, will give the invocation.

Tata had met with African American leaders who support the diversity policy earlier this month at St. Matthew.

The Wake Community Network is accusing the Great Schools in Wake Coalition of making "dubious" claims in criticizing the way the Wake County school board hired Anthony Tata to be the new superintendent.

In a press release today, Joey Stansbury, director of the Wake Community Network, challenges the Dec. 23. claim from GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon that the public met with prospective finalists in past searches.

This is a case where it may depend on what superintendent search you're discussing.