Here's a quick recap from today's court proceedings in which 21 people pleaded guilty to disrupting Wake County school board meetings in 2010.

The protesters will perform 40 hours of community service such as working in food banks and soup kitchens and pay $430 in fees. If they complete the work in the next six months, the charges will be dismissed. They can ask to have the charges expunged.

Although he entered a guilty plea, the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, still remained defiant. He pointed to last fall's school board elections as a sign they were doing what was right.

"We’re guilty of standing up for righteousness,” Barber said at a press conference where he was joined by the Rev. Nancy Petty, the Rev. Curtis Gatewood and Dante Strobino.

Here's more about what was said at last week's OCR meeting at Martin Street Baptist Church.

Click here for an earlier post about the meeting. Most of the speakers and the crowd were opposed to the school board majority's elimination of the diversity policy.

The meeting kicked off with the Rev. Earl Johnson, pastor of Martin Street Baptist, getting laughs and applause from the crowd when he quipped that the church was "a very neutral site by the way." That was in response to the complaints from the school system about holding the meeting at the church.

Regardless of your views on Monday's Durham City Council vote on accepting matricula consulars as identification for police, Bull City leaders took an interesting approach to public comment.

As noted in Tuesday's article by Jim Wise, Durham Mayor Bill Bell restricted public comment on the matricula consular issue to Durham residents. This caused some people in the audience to walk out as they complained that their free-speech rights were violated and that the issue was larger than Durham.

The issue had generated national controversy among conservative groups with non-Durham residents wanting to voice their opposition to the proposal.

The quick summary of the message from Thursday night's meeting is that neighborhood schools and political conservatism are bad.

As noted in today's article, the teens of N.C. HEAT argued that neighborhood schools will lead to resegregation and that the Wake County school board majority is controlled by conservative groups. The teens didn't have nice words to say about Steve Noble, chairman of Called2Action, and conservative businessmen Art Pope and Bob Luddy.

Enloe High student Robert Wright said the school board's policy is being set by Called2Action and Pope. He said members of the board majority are "puppets used by conservative organizations."

Can either side claim the high moral ground in the Wake County school diversity fight?

As noted in today's article, the various Christian leaders allying with the state NAACP to restore the old diversity policy are arguing they're on the side of good. Terms like evil and Jim Crow were bandied about at Tuesday's press conference on the July 20 mass march.

“We're here today to fight against something that is extremely evil,” said the Rev. John Mendez on behalf of the General Baptist State Convention of N.C., whose 400,000 members represent the largest black denomination in the state. “We would not be here today if evil was not pervasive. But there is something evil because it is divisive.”

Is the Wake County school board's proposed ban on personal attacks from speakers too vague?

As noted in today's article, Katy Parker, the legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina, says the policy being voted on today leaves too much room for interpretation as to what would be considered a personal attack. She said what one person might consider a personal attack might not be viewed that way by another person.

In this case, school board chairman Ron Margiotta would be the person making the call.

UPDATE

The N.C. Open Government Coalition is also objecting to the speaker policy. Go to the end of the post to read their letter.

Do speakers at Wake County school board meetings have the right to make personal attacks against board members or anyone else?

The school board is set to give initial approval Tuesday to a new policy that sets guidelines on what speakers can say. Several civil rights groups sent a letter today objecting to language in the policy that says "speakers are required to refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the Board, staff, or other members of the public."

"Comments that go directly to an elected school board members' job performance are protected speech - not personal attacks..." according to the letter. "The new policy prohibiting 'personal attacks' will likely result in impermissible viewpoint discrimination."

UPDATE

SEE END OF POST FOR LINK TO NEW POLICY 

Here are a few more quick updates.

The school board voted 5-4 in favor of the community schools resolution. Four different amendments proposed by the minority were rejected by a 5-4 vote.

The board also approved the reassignment changes recommended last week by the student assignment committee. The board has scheduled a work session for March 31 to discuss the other changes that have been proposed but not yet decided upon.

More liberal grandfathering rules were also approved tonight.

More details on this and other things later.

UPDATE

Public comments have resumed.

"May God have mercy on you for the things you’ve done this evening,” said Nefertiti Byrd, a Raleigh resident to the school board. “There’s no need for Jim Crow to return.

The Rev. Curtis Gatewood, 2nd VP of the state NAACP, had signed up to speak. But he wasn't here when his name was called. Gatewood was nearly arrested at the March 2 meeeting.

Click here for a list of the reassignment changes approved by the board and the new grandfathering guidelines.

The Wake Community Network is demanding that the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, apologize for the comments made at Tuesday's Wake County school board meeting by the Rev. Curtis Gatewood.

In a statement today from Joey Stansbury, who runs the conservative web site, he says members of the school board minority faction should attend today's NAACP press conference "to condemn the hateful and divisive rhetoric of 'Reverend' Gatewood."

Gatewood, the 2nd VP of the state NAACP, was nearly arrested by police for not giving up the podium Tuesday. He called school board chairman Ron Marigotta a "white racist'" and said he was going to hell.

Civil conversation seems to be running in short supply when it comes to Wake County school issues.

As noted in today's article, you've got remarks flying on both sides about animals and the Mafia. It will likely rev up even more after today's press conference by the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP.

“I think that everybody's irritated,” said Brenda Berg of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition. “I feel like they should be selling popcorn and cotton candy at these things. I went to the circus last week and it wasn't nearly as wild as the board meetings.”