It looks like we haven't seen the last of former Wake County school board member Debra Goldman.

It's not officially on the meeting agenda, but the school board is planning to recognize Goldman today for her three years of board service. Goldman may be present at the meeting to receive the recognition.

Goldman officially resigned on Feb. 1. Her plan, before it became known that she could no longer serve after she changed her voter registration to Wilkes County, was to announce her resignation at the Feb. 5 board meeting.

In a blast from the past, Bill Fletcher is hoping to return to the Wake County school board by filling the vacant District 9 position.

Fletcher became the first, and at the moment still only, applicant on Friday for the Cary seat that Debra Goldman resigned from Feb. 1. Fletcher said in an interview Monday that he wants to bring his “institutional knowledge” to the at-times tumultuous school board and help build community support for public education

“I can’t do anything about what's in the past,” Fletcher said of the recent school board turmoil. “I can only contribute toward improving education for our kids and community.”

It's not taking former Wake County school board member Debra Goldman long to make a public splash in her new home in Wilkes County.

The Wilkes Journal-Patriot is reporting today that Goldman was excited Tuesday to be attending her first town meeting. According to the article, Goldman commended Mayor Victor Varela for allowing the public to be so involved in the meeting.

But the article says Goldman also criticized Varela for interrupting residents when they were speaking. It turns out that her boss, Kevin Reece, is organizing a petition to recall Varela and is not happy people can’t remove elected officials.

Goldman resigned from the school board Feb. 1 after Reece hired her to be the first executive director of the non-profit Derie Cheek Reece Foundation.

The application period is now open for people who want to fill the District 9 vacancy on the Wake County school board.

School officials announced today that they'll take applications through Feb. 22 from people who want to replace Debra Goldman. The new board member would finish Goldman's term, which runs through November, and would have the advantage of incumbency in this fall's school board election.

The school board will schedule interviews with applicants with a vote expected to occur in March. This could give the board's Democratic majority a 7-2 edge.

Former Wake County school board member Debra Goldman wants to be remembered for being thoughtful in all her decisions and for actions such as bringing Tony Tata to the area and helping "students be able to go to schools closer to where they live."

Goldman explained during a press conference today that she resigned Friday to become executive director of the Derie Cheek Reece Foundation , a Wilkes County-based non-profit that raises awareness of strokes and how to prevent them. Goldman was asked what she hoped would be the legacy that she'd leave behind on the board.

"I believe that my legacy will be what I've heard in these letters I've been getting, the phone calls, the emails, the Facebook messages (from supporters since the resignation)," Goldman said. "They all have been they felt I was a board member that really thought about every decision."

it looks like Wake County school board member Debra Goldman's resignation plans didn't go as planned, setting up a potential legal issue for the district.

Goldman said her plan was to announce her resignation at Tuesday's meeting, where she would discuss the new job she's taking with a non-profit in the Wilkes County area. She wanted to wait until then so she could vote on the filling the District 1 board vacancy.

"I am preparing to move,” Goldman said. “The voters in my district deserve to have me weigh in on the replacement for Chris Malone. I still live in Cary.”

UPDATE

The legal controversy is over. Goldman sent this followup email announcing her resignation goes into effect immediately.

Hello again... My excitement continues to mount regarding my new position. As I'm very eager to move forward, I have spoken with Jonathan Blumberg. I believe that to make this as streamlined as possible, for all involved, my resignation is effective right away. I would like to be able to represent my district, but feel that with my need to transition and go back and forth between Wake and Wilkes, it is best for all that I resign at this time.
Debra Goldman
WCPSS Board of Education

It looks like the Wake County school board will now have two vacancies to fill.

Debra Goldman changed her voter registration status last week from Cary to Ronda, a town in Wilkes County. She's now been dropped from the Wake County Board of Elections rolls, disqualifying her from serving on the school board.

It's not immediately clear if Goldman, who missed the Jan. 22 board meeting, has submitted her resignation yet. She did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

This gives the Democratic board majority a chance now, along with filling Chris Malone's vacancy, to increase the majority to 7-2.

The Wake County school board is getting it on both ends of the political spectrum for today's proposal to place an unarmed private security guard at every elementary school.

In a post Monday, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition asks "where is community involvement on this issue?" GSIW also asks "why the rush to vote when there is no evidence that demonstrates that security officers will make schools safer?"

GSIW argues that the $2.375 million that Wake is looking to spend year-round on the unarmed guards could be better spent on measures such as bullying prevention and adding more social workers. The group also isn't a big fan of having armed school resource officers.

At the other end, school board member Debra Goldman is arguing that the security at elementary schools should be armed. She wants to talk with the local enforcement agencies about adding school resource officers to all 105 elementary schools, which would cost a lot more than unarmed guards.

The Wake County Republican Party is looking for candidates to run for the Wake County school board this year.

In the Elephant Express on Wednesday, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant writes that "now it’s 2013, and we begin another election year…a critical election year for municipal elections and school board elections. And we know how important they are."

Later in the newsletter, Bryant writes that "we need anyone interested in running for any 2013 office to get in touch with our recruitment committee." She tells interested people to email Chairman@wakegop.org,

How much should political considerations affect whether the Wake County school board changes policy to allow it to keep more money in its rainy-day fund?

As noted in today's article, school board members discussed Tuesday whether the change would produce a backlash from county commissioners. The change would nearly double the amount that the school board could keep before deciding whether to waive policy to return the excess to the county.

"Now we’re saying it’s okay for us to bank double the money," said board member John Tedesco, during the policy committee meeting. "That’s going to cause us some problems with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle at a time we’re dealing with challenging issues with them."