The new budget being released this afternoon by Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata will understandably get most of the focus at the school board work session.

But another topic that will get discussion is whether the school board should keep its current committee structure. Much of the issue revolves around whether it's a drain on staff time for them to be involved in the various committees.

It's the latest chapter in the debate over whether the board should operate with committees, or at least the standing ones.

UPDATE

More details later.

Look for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent Peter Gorman to be providing advice to Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.

The Wake school system announced today that the Broad Superintendents Academy has assigned Gorman to be Tata's executive coach for one year. Along with the audits, it's one of the services that Broad provides to its alumni.

“The executive coach is much like a teacher mentor,” Tata said in a news release. “The focus of the relationship is on the mechanics of the role of the superintendent and providing support.”

The first audit from the Broad Superintendents Academy is out and it's recommending that Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata work to end the public feuding on the school board.

The audit, released today by the school system, found that the board's bickering is hampering the district’s ability to communicate with the public. The communications audit noted issues such as name calling by board members at meetings and negative comments they've posted about each other on Facebook.

“The superintendent and the leadership of the board should work with board members to make a concerted effort to tone down inflammatory rhetoric at the board meetings and, when disagreements do arise, to deal with those disagreements in a courteous and professional way that better communicates to the public the reasons for board member decisions and helps encourage more consideration by the news media of the important positive work the board is doing,” according to the audit by Drive West Communications in Texas.

Wake County school board members might still sing Kumbaya after all during the two-day retreat today and Saturday with Superintendent Tony Tata.

As noted in today's article, Tata says a big chunk of the retreat will be focused on how to build consensus. He said the retreat will also provide an opportunity for board members to better get to know him and each other.

“I’m not saying that we’ll agree on everything,” Tata said. “My intention is to discuss with them the best practices for high-functioning boards.”

UPDATE

The Friday meeting has been moved to a third-floor conference room.

Wake County school board member Carolyn Morrison says they "could do better for the parents, children, staff and taxpayers" than hiring Anthony Tata to be the new superintendent.

In this statement today, Morrison says that Tata is to "be commended for his service to the American people during his years in the Army." But she says can't vote for him because "nothing in his background of experience suggests that he is prepared to lead the largest school district in N.C."

Morrison says there are more qualified people to be superintendent, pointing to all the career educators. She says that Tata's 18 months as chief operating officer of D.C. Public Schools and his time in the Broad Superintendents Academy doesn't qualify him for the Wake job.