A coalition of liberal groups is urging the Wake County school system to halt plans to open a pair of single-sex leadership academies next year.

In this memorandum sent Thursday to Wake Superintendent Tony Tata and school board members, the groups argue that approval of the academies was rushed through without enough input or review. The groups also oppose having single-sex schools and the requirement that students at the academies participate in the Junior ROTC program.

“Instead of spending precious funds on the proposed single-sex academies, spend them on improving and expanding alternative educational programs for struggling students,” says the memo.

The memo was signed by the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, Advocates for Children’s Services, the YWCA of the Greater Triangle, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, the North Carolina chapter of the ACLU and CHOICES — a group that’s criticized JROTC programs.

It looks like we have a split between Wake County school board member Keith Sutton and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children over the newly created single-gender leadership academies.

In a press release today, CCCAAC calls the creation of the schools "a troubling decision" with "the hurried approval of the academies (as) another example of the reckless decision-making by the board majority." It questions the academic effectiveness of single-sex schools that Sutton joined the majority in backing.

CCCAAC doesn't buy Superintendent Tony Tata's argument that the schools will be cheaper than the ones they're modeled on from Guilford County. Also citing how those Guilford schools are almost all black, CCCAAC calls them "costly schools to resegregate and reassign without community input."

CCCAAC also complains about how the academies will displace special-education students. They also complain that the money spent making the academies ready "means that other school projects, such as repairs to existing facilities, are being placed on hold."

A new video from a liberal group is accusing the conservative Koch brothers of having bought the Wake County school board elections in 2009 in an attempt to resegregate the school system.

The 11-minute video, released today by Brave New Films founded by Robert Greenwald, is part of a series of films attacking the Koch brothers. For this film, a variety of local supporters of the old diversity policy go on to blame the Koch brothers for the 2009 election results and ignore the notion that there was any large grassroots support for the changes.

"In 2009, the Koch brothers tried the destroy the Wake County Public School system," says a blurb flashed on the screen.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR RESPONSE FROM DALLAS WOODHOUSE AND FOR A LINK FOR AN INTERVIEW ROBERT GREENWALD GAVE TO MSNBC ON MONDAY ABOUT THE FILM

Cash Michaels is not a happy camper about Wake County's move toward a controlled-choice plan that stresses proximity.

In an analysis piece in the latest issue of The Carolinian, Michaels calls the new plan "the change that no one who embraced the heralded and productive socioeconomic student diversity policy ever wanted to see - Wake County Public Schools, moving as far away as possible from the old mission - making sure that no child was trapped in an unhealthy school."

Also in the piece, Michaels champions the call for Democrats to regain the school board majority, criticizes school board vice chairman John Tedesco for his new job at the N.C. Center for Education Reform and takes Superintendent Tony Tata to task for his letter to the state NAACP.

UPDATE

Click here to view Michaels' response to criticsm of his article.

We could be getting closer to an official position from the Great Schools in Wake Coalition on the Wake School Choice Plan.

GSIW issued a media advisory yesterday on a March 15 community forum on the Wake School Choice Plan that it's sponsoring with the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

The forum will run Tuesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Martin Street Baptist Church, 1001 East Martin Street in Raleigh.

How good were the old days under former Wake County Schools Superintendent Bill McNeal and how bad could they get it after the elimination of the diversity policy?

In the first part of a series last week in The Carolinian looking at the new Walnut Creek Elementary School, Cash Michaels looks fondly on the era when McNeal was superintendent from 2000 to 2006. The article contrasts that with the demographics of the new Walnut Creek in the post-SES policy era.

The article trumpets the low teacher turnover rates and high test scores when McNeal was superintendent as Wake tried to maintain "healthy schools."

More words are being traded in The Washington Post over last month's article on Wake County's school diversity fight.

In a letter to the editor in Saturday's Post, Calla Wright of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children challenges a recent letter submitted by Kathleen Brennan of Wake CARES.

Wright accuses Brennan of "scapegoating" by blaming the diversity policy and not growth for reassigning 60,000 students over the past 10 years.

By a 5-3 vote, the Wake County school board has preliminarily agreed to go with the staff recommendation to open Walnut Creek Elementary School in Southeast Raleigh as a traditional calendar.

Keith Sutton, Anne McLaurin, Kevin Hill, Chris Malone and Debra Goldman voted to open Walnut Creek as a traditional-calendar school. John Tedesco, Deborah Prickett and Carolyn Morrison voted to open it as a year-round school, which was the original staff recommendation three years ago.

Supporters of making it traditional cited the childcare costs on the low-income families that will make up the majority of the families at Walnut Creek. Supporters of year-round focused on the additional capacity the calendar would provide.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

It would seem that the odds are in favor of Wake County's next schools superintendent having education experience.

Groups such as the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, the Coalition of the Concerned Citizens for African America Children and Wake NCAE have complained that the school board majority opened up the search process to non-educators.

But George Conway, team leader from the search firm of Heidrick & Struggles, said after Thursday's superintendent search committee meeting that all 26 people ready to be interviewed and the 12 considering applying have education experience.

Supporters of the old diversity policy are holding a pair of forums next week for candidates for the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

Schools will be among the topics at Monday’s forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Wake County and WakeUP Wake County. Other topics will include water supply, public transit, revenue and growth.

The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m. at Temple Beth Or, 5315 Creedmoor Rd. in North Raleigh. The N.C. Center for Voter Education will air it live online at www.voterradio.com and also for replay as a podcast.