The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is mobilizing to get the new Wake County student assignment plan to include the diversity-related assignments.

In an email message dated Sept. 12, GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon tells people that her discussions with school board members was "not encouraging." Brannon writes about a "board member who wants what we want but is too weak to push for it and too afraid to step up to the plate, because he is worried about community push back."

Brannon writes that "another board member who doesn’t seem to 'agree' about how to fix diversity-how to have balanced schools.....he seems to believe kids can choose out. After some discussion he agreed to 'think it over.'"

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition will be holding back-to-school forums "to give parents the critical information they need to advocate for their students in the coming school year."

In a press release Tuesday, GSIW said the first forum will be held Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. at the YWCA of the Greater Triangle, 554 East Hargett Street, Raleigh. The focus of that forum will be student assignment, educational rights and legal rights.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is accusing the Wake County school board majority of putting "special interest politics ahead of the values of the community" with the votes taken at last week's meeting.

In a press release today, GSIW complains about the 5-4 votes on hiring Heidrick & Struggles, eliminating the requirement that the superintendent be an educator and dropping out of the state and national school boards associations.

Yevonne Brannon, GSIW chairwoman, said the board actions taken last week "demonstrates reckless disregard for the community and for our family values.”

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is going is heading into western Wake and Garner for its next series of neighborhood forums.

In a press release Friday, GSIW announced a Thursday forum at Pleasant Grove Church in Cary and a May 27 forum at Poplar Springs Christian Church near Garner. Members of the new board majority did well in both Cary and Garner in last fall's election.

GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon said they're holding these new forums because the group is "flooded with questions" from the public about the future of the district.

How much of a role did the hostile crowd at Tuesday's meeting play in the new Wake County school board majority's willingness to compromise?

As noted in today's article, new school bard chairman Ron Margiotta repeatedly warned the crowd that he'd shut down public comment or call in security if they didn't calm down.

School board member Keith Sutton thinks the vocal complaints from the crowd are why the board was willing to accept compromises, especially on the proposed changes to the student assignment policy.

Do schools in Wake issue long-term suspensions for students more quickly than they should?

As noted in today's article, that's a concern raised by some groups as Wake has one of the higher long-term suspension rates in the state. It's more of an issue now that Wake is proposing to eliminate the alternative programs for long-term suspended students in favor of offering them online courses from home.

Click here to view the 2007-08 statewide school-by-school suspension data. Click here to view the 2003-04 through 2006-07 statewide school-by-school data.