More to come later, but the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board exerted its muscle today by electing Keith Sutton as vice chairman.

The vote ends John Tedesco's tenure as vice chair six months earlier than it was supposed to finish. But the 2009 decision by Republicans to replace Kevin Hill early as board chair set the precedent for today.

During the vice chair's vote, Sutton got five votes. Debra Goldman got three votes. Deborah Prickett got one vote. I'll check the ballots later.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

The new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board is now in place following a packed swearing-in ceremony.

After being sworn in, the new members talked about focusing on improving education for Wake’s 146,000 students, listening to the families and trying to go beyond the 5-4 votes on major issues that took place over the past two years.

“If this board comes together with the common denominator of all children all schools, we’ll continue to have a very successful 16th largest school district in the nation,” said school board member Kevin Hill.

Will the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board find their new "third way" of governing or will they act like the prior majorities that provoked such heated opposition?

As noted in today's article, the new members say they recognize the problems that dogged past Democratic and Republican majorities on the school board. They say they won't go back to acting like it was pre-2009 when Democrats were last in charge.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll find that third way where we’re strengthening our schools and not going backwards,” said new Democratic school board member Christine Kushner.

The Wake County magnet school application period is opening on Monday amid some questions and changes about how it will be affected by the new student assignment plan.

As noted in today's article, you've got changes in the timing of the application period and the selection criteria. And, perhaps even more importantly, you've got changes involving feeder patterns and no longer being able to "decline" your magnet acceptance like you did in the past.

The application period is opening two months earlier than normal to accommodate the start of the Jan. 17 application period for the non=magnet schools.

Should any private individuals or the members of the Wake County school board being sworn in on Tuesday pick up part of the tab for the reception?

As per tradition, a reception will be held after the new members are sworn into office on Tuesday. The reception will be catered by the school system's Office of Child Nutrition Services.

The precedent for individuals picking up part of the costs was set in 2009 when three leaders of the Wake Schools Community Alliance paid $300 of the $693.83 bill. Plus, the campaign manager for board member Debra Goldman brought in a cake.

The new student assignment plan and an update on middle school math placement will be on the agenda of today's meeting of the Wake County school board economically disadvantaged student performance task force.

The task force will hear about efforts to do community outreach, particularly among low-income families, about the new choice plan. One of the concerns raised is making sure that poor families will have the same opportunity to participate in the choice process.

The task force will then get an update on middle school math placement, looking at the 20th-day numbers at individual schools. The discussion will take place while the new placement policy is in limbo seeing whether the new Democratic majority will take action.

No one disputes that more should be done to help the low-performing students at Enloe High School but the problem seems to be finding the right solution.

As noted in today's article, the rejection of the block schedule has left Enloe's leadership looking for alternatives. The challenge is finding something that will help the low-performing students without causing too many changes that would draw complaints from magnet students and their parents.

And with one current Enloe parent and two former Enloe parents now elected as school board members, what else is in store for the magnet school? Enloe has the dubious distinction of having the lowest passing rates on state tests among Wake's high schools for black and low-income students.

The reactions from Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday night to the Wake County school board election results was about as different as you could get.

As noted today in this article and this article, Democrats were hailing the results as a step forward. Republicans who face four years of being in the minority were warning about a return to the days of forced busing and possibly even Superintendent Tony Tata leaving.

Speaking to reporters after the results came in, GOP board vice chairman John Tedesco said he hopes the new board majority won't try to rehash old battles.

New Wake County school board members Susan Evans and Jim Martin are denouncing as "absolutely false" a rumor being spread by Republicans that they browbeat Superintendent Tony Tata and staff about the new student assignment plan.

In an issue of the Elephant Express sent today, Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant says "there's a rumor floating around" that Evans and Martin "barged" into a student assignment task force meeting "and ordered him (Tata) to take no steps toward implementing the plan." Bryant writes that "we understand their yelling was so loud it could be heard out in the hall."

"I don't know how she can completely fabricate something like this," said Evans, in an interview today, about the charges from Bryant.

UPDATE

In en e-mail response, Tata said "we had a meaningful, frank, and sometimes spirited discussion" at the Oct. 21 meeting. I haven't gotten back a response from him clarifying what that means.

While I don't think shortening Tata's response changed anything, here's the full reply he gave me yesterday:

"I had not heard any rumors and had not seen the newsletter until you emailed it to me. As I announced two press conferences ago, I invited Dr. Martin, Ms. Evans, and Ms. Kushner to attend an update on the assignment plan so that we could answer their questions and provide more information in order to begin their transition as individual board members. The assignment task force was present along with some other senior staff personnel. Over the course of about two hours, we had a meaningful, frank, and sometimes spirited discussion. Our transition plan calls for more information exchange in the coming weeks leading up to their taking office. We have a full agenda and fixed timelines, making it vital that we share as much information as early as possible so that we can remain firmly focused on students and parents. Thx, Tony."

Organized labor is backing "labor-friendly" Wake County school board member Kevin Hill in the District 3 runoff election against Heather Losurdo.

The Triangle Labor Council AFL-CIO announced Friday that it was endorsing Hill, just like it had in the general election. Three of the group's five Democratic endorsed candidates won outright on Oct. 11 with Hill and George Morgan, whom the group supported over Christine Kushner, being the lone exceptions.

"Our endorsed candidates did very well in Wake County, but control of the Wake County School Board is still up for grabs," says this handout from the Triangle Labor Council AFL-CIO. "However, one of our candidates, Kevin Hill, in Wake County Schools District 3, fell 51 votes short of getting the 50% needed to avoid a run-off. Kevin Hill will be on the ballot in a special run-off election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. This labor-friendly candidate needs your support!"