Supporters of the diversity policy are rallying around the flag on Thursday.

On Thursday night, the YWCA of the Greater Triangle, the ACLU of North Carolina and WakeUP Wake County will host a forum on educational equity that "will discuss the significance of the school board elections." While no endorsements will be made, don't be shocked if you hear about the consequences of abandoning the diversity policy.

Calla Wright, head of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, will speak at the forum. It will come after she participates in a press conference earlier in the day with other groups to back school board candidates who support the diversity policy.

Some local African-American leaders are planning to publicly state their support for Wake school board candidates who back the diversity policy.

The details are being finalized, but it's looking like a Thursday press conference will be held involving groups such as the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

Here's hoping attendance is better at tonight's school board candidate forum compared to the one that took place Saturday.

As noted in Sunday's article by Stanley Chambers, only about 30 people attended Saturday's forum sponsored by the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children. That event drew six candidates from all four board races.

Tonight's forum, sponsored by the Wake Education Partnership and local chambers of commerce, will focus on District 2. All four candidates who are still campaigning have said they'll attend: Carlene Lucas, Horace Tart, John Tedesco and Cathy Truitt.

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children is holding a school board candidate forum on Saturday but they're not getting much of a response from the main opposition candidates.

CCCAAC President Calla Wright said five of the 12 candidates have agreed to attend so far. They are Rita Rakestraw, Carlene Lucas, Cathy Truitt, Karen Simon and Lois Nixon.

None of the candidates backed by Wake Schools Community Alliance, Take Wake Schools Back and the Wake County Republican Party have agreed to attend so far.

UPDATE

Calla Wright has confirmed that Horace Tart says he'll attend. No info back yet on John Tedesco.

School administrators are getting some support in their efforts to review and possibly change grading practices in middle schools and high schools.

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children issued a press release Saturday in which it says the grading review "will allow all students an equal opportunity to receive equitable evaluation on assessments."

Supporters of the review argue that the elimination of work habits and behavior will make grades truly reflect what students know. Critics complain that the potential adoption of policies such as not giving out zeroes could set a bad example for students.

UPDATE

Calla Wright, head of the CCCAAC, is raising concerns about the headline describing them as a black advocacy group. She said the group's members include people of many different races and that their support for the grading review isn't designed to benefit children of any particular race.

After Monday's experience in Cary, school board members should probably get a more positive feeling from tonight's forum, "Achieving Educational Excellence in Tough Times."

Here are some hints to the direction of the forum, whose sponsors are WakeUP Wake County, BiggerPicture4Wake, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, Wake NCAE and the Wake County League of Women Voters.

Tom Oxholm, co-author of "A School District's Journey to Excellence" will speak on whether Wake has achieved academic excellence.

Eulogies have been pouring in to praise State Senator Vernon Malone, who died Saturday.

Much of the talk has been about Malone's long-time focus on education issues, especially his ties to the Wake school system. He championed the 1976 merger of the Wake County and Raleigh City schools, later becoming the first chairman of the merged school board.

Click here for today's Ruth Sheehan column about the talk Malone gave in February at the diversity seminar sponsored by the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

UPDATE

Click here for the school district remembrance of Malone. 

Wake's diversity policy will get a lot of attention next week.

Three separate events will focus sympathetically on Wake's socioeconomic diversity efforts. The first will be Wednesday, when the Coalition of Concerned Citizens For African American Children holds a forum entitled "Understanding the Need for Socioeconomic and Racial Diversity."

"We call on citizens, parents, educators who care about the welfare of all students to please come out to the April 1st meeting in support of the WCPSS Diversity policy that is designed to provide the best possible learning environment to all Wake County students," according to the coalition's press release. "Join us to learn how racial/economic diversity will impact our election of WCSPSS School Board Members in October."

This post is for people who want to talk about Thursday night's reassignment/diversity forum.

The event brought groups from opposite sides of the issue, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children and the Wake Schools Community Alliance, to the same table.

I wasn't at the hearing but Ruth Sheehan attended. There may be a column about the forum in Monday's newspaper.

There could be an interesting discussion Thursday night on Wake's student diversity policy.

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children is hosting a forum from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday called "Does Diversity Impact Achievement in WCPSS." Representatives from the Wake Schools Community Alliance have been invited to attend.

"Tt shows that though we have differences, we can come together to discuss our differences," said Calla Wright, president of the CCCAAC, which backs Wake's diversity policy. "We can be civil."