The Wake County school board has a lot crammed on its agenda today, including student assignment, school bus routing, the math placement policy and selling the Noble Road property.

That doesn't include the other items that may crop op, such as revisiting the mediation issue with the school board protesters and extending Superintendent Tony Tata's contract.

Let's start with the work session agenda, where we'll see if the new Democratic board majority heeds calls from its supporters to change the student assignment plan. Staff will give an update on the plan.

Wake County school board member Debra Goldman says she's taking on the role of board "watchdog."

During last week's board meeting, Goldman, a Republican, repeatedly raised concerns about the way she felt the new Democratic board majority was operating. She accused the board of committing several policy violations and not passing the "smell test" on email discussions.

"You’ve referred to me as the watchdog and I will pick up that mantle and go forward with it," Goldman said during the meeting.

The liberal/progressive Great Schools in Wake Coalition is being praised for helping oust the Republican majority on the Wake County school board.

In this week's issue of the liberal Independent Weekly, GSIW received one of the publication's 2012 Citizen Awards. The article cites Great Schools' various efforts over the past two years such as its white papers, community forums and having members speak at school board meetings.

"When the 2011 elections in Wake County resulted in a stunning defeat for the Republicans, with all five school board seats on the ballot won by pro-diversity candidates, GSIW was the major factor in the outcome," according to the article by Bob Geary.

Is the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board too fragmented to be able to make changes to the diversity component of the new student assignment plan?

In an online article today for the liberal Independent weekly, Bob Geary writes that "the majority must come together," citing how they haven't agreed on changes to make to the assignment plan. Geary complains that the plan's "diversity pillar is weak to the point of collapse" and that the new majority "has taken no action to strengthen the plan since assuming office seven weeks ago."

"Looking over my notes from the two work sessions held by the school board on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10, I'm struck by the lack of cohesion among the five pro-diversity members," Geary writes. "They're clearly not on the same page. But that's not the problem so much as it is the fact that they don't seem to be making much of an effort to get on the same page — i.e., to reach a consensus among themselves about how to move diversity forward."

Bob Geary is urging the Wake County school board to go against the Great Schools in Wake Coalition's call to delay the implementation of the new student assignment plan by a year.

In an article today for the liberal Independent Weekly, Geary writes that he agrees with critics like Great Schools that the plan is "incomplete." But Geary writes that the school board can make adjustments for this year such as including setting aside seats at the high-performing schools and also make adjustments in future years.

Geary notes that Superintendent Tony Tata has "staked his reputation" on the plan. Geary writes that Wake should go ahead with the plan "unless the new board wants him gone — and contrary to Republican assertions, that's not the case."

"Tata's plan may not be what the new school board would've come with on its own given a two-year head start," Geary writes. "It may not be what it will come up with over the next four years. But throwing it out with little or no time left to fashion an alternative for the 2012-13 school year would be justifiable only if disaster was impending. And it isn't."

Who will be chosen the new chair and potentially new vice chair of the Wake County school board today?

It's expected that Kevin Hill or Keith Sutton will be chosen as chairman because they're the only members of the new Democratic majority with prior board experience. The new chair would serve until the annual meeting in June.

One theory being floated is that Hill will be chosen as chairman to finish out the term he never got to complete in 2009-10.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Did Wake County school board member Kevin Hill make a political mistake by voting against the student assignment plan on Tuesday?

The no vote has given Heather Losurdo, who announced this week that she supported the plan now, something to campaign on against Hill in the Nov. 8 runoff. In a column Tuesday for the liberal Independent weekly, Bob Geary writes that "a yes vote was the better choice for Hill politically."

"But Hill, like his fellow Democrats, is not a politician and he doesn't think like one," Geary writes. "(Sutton is the exception, and he was thinking like a politician; unfortunately, Morrison and McLaurin either didn't get it that he was giving them a good reason to vote no — with Hill — or they simply couldn't bring themselves to cast a political vote.)"

Geary adds that "sure enough, John Tedesco started Facebooking and Tweeting immediately that Hill's vote was partisan, and naysaying." Geary accuses Tedesco of spreading around a "fictitious campaign"  that a new Democratic board majority would fire Superintendent Tony Tata.

Bob Geary is pitching today's Wake County school board elections as "a question of whether Wake will blunder into a set of high-poverty, low-achieving schools ... or avoid that fate."

In an online post today for the liberal Independent weekly, Geary writes that there's a "huge hole" in the new student assignment plan when it comes to promoting equity/diversity. The problem, Geary writes, is that the student achievement pillar is too weak to prevent the creation of high-poverty and low-achieving schools.

"If the Republicans hold or expand their 5-4 majority in today's elections, Tata's plan will continue to have a hole in it, because Republican School Board Chair Ron Margiotta & Co. want that hole to remain," Geary writes.

If, however, Margiotta falls in the District 8 race against challenger Susan Evans, and if that results in a 5-4 majority against the Republicans (meaning that incumbent Kevin Hill survives his challenge in District 3 from Republican Heather Losurdo), then the hole in Tata's plan can be filled by a new board — as Tata, if I understand him correctly, wants it to be filled."

Bob Geary is analyzing how partisan the Democratic candidates for Wake County school board should get in this fall's elections.

In an article in the latest issue of the liberal Independent weekly, Geary contends that the Democratic candidates "have little choice" but to turn to the Party for help to counter the Republican Party's efforts in the school board races. But he says it's also causing the Democratic candidates to tread a fine line.

"The Democratic candidates face the same critical question of style: Can a Democrat win with a message of nonpartisanship, the complexity of the issues and 'good governance?'" Geary writes. "Or is the case that in a low-turnout election like a school board race, you can't beat a hard-hitting Republican who turns out the GOP's base vote unless you're a hard-hitting Democrat who turns out the Democratic base vote?"

The next step toward building public support for Wake County's new student assignment plan kicks off tonight with the first of six informational meetings that will be held over the next two two weeks.

During the meetings, the student assignment task force will give an update on the choice-based plan and also answer questions from the public. Tonight's meeting is at Middle Creek High School, followed by Thursday at Wakefield High, Sept. 7 at Apex High, Sept. 8 at Southeast Raleigh High, Sept. 13 at Broughton High and Sept. 15 at East Wake High. All run from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The meetings were initially announced on Monday with the district revising the meeting dates and locations yesterday. The short notice for the meetings prompted a Monday blog post from Bob Geary of the liberal Independent weekly asking "what's the rush?"

Superintendent Tony Tata had said last month he would hold staff-led meetings sometime in September. The school board is also expected to hold meetings at some point.

(I'm still getting caught up on things today so please be patient.)

UPDATE

Fewer than 50 people showed up tonight at Middle Creek High. The questions from the audience, along with answers, will eventually be posted online by the district.