Things got testy last week as Wake County school board members argued over which schools to approve spending money to design.

As noted in Sunday's North Raleigh News article, the school board voted 6-2  to approve spending $2.4 million to start designing M8 in northwest Raleigh, E20 in northeast Raleigh and Scotts Ridge Elementary in Apex. The vote took place after board members traded barbs over whether those were the right choices.

School board members John Tedesco and Debra Goldman objected to none of the schools on the list being from Southeast Raleigh. They argued that more new schools need to be built there to create the capacity to allow local kids to return under community schools while also preserving spaces for magnet seats.

It should get easier for non-profit community groups to distribute materials to students in Wake County schools.

The school board signed off Tuesday on new research and procedures (R&P) that say principals must permit distribution of publications about activites from non-profit community organizations with youth participation of over 500. But the R&P still allows principals to place "reasonable limits" on when and how often the material can be distributed.

School board attorney Ann Majestic said that she'll explain the new distribution procedures to principals at a countywide meeting today. R&P is what's developed by staff to carry out board policies.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST, INCLUDING A RESPONSE FROM DEBRA GOLDMAN

With some judicious editing, candidates for Wake County schools superintendent will find out what the public thinks about the search process.

As noted in today's article, George Conway, the team leader from Heidrick & Struggles, said participants in the feedback sessions cited improving the public image of the school system as one of the challenges facing the new superintendent. It's part of a  report shared with the board's superintendent search committee on Monday.

The report will also be shared with candidates. But some of the wording will be eliminated or modified after board members raised concerns.

Some Wake County school employees are expected to lose their cell phones as part of a cost-cutting measure.

During last week's school board work session, Chief Business Officer David Neter said staff is reviewing which employees need to keep their district-issued devices and which ones will be switched to cheaper ones. Currently, some get a traditional cell phone while others might get a Blackberry or a Direct Connect device.

Handouts presented last week show that Wake is paying for nearly 2,500 cell devices. (As was explained last week, don't interpret the Blackberry page to mean those people are getting both a Blackberry and a cell.)

Some Wake County school administrators are sweating their futures now that school board members have asked interim Superintendent Donna Hargens to review whether jobs can be eliminated.

As noted in today's article, board members asked Hargens to look at more than a dozen senior administrative positions and come up with a recommendation on those positions next week.

Cutting some of those jobs could help offset the cost of restoring some of the parent counseling positions at Project Enlightenment. The board had also asked Hargens to make a recommendation on those jobs next week.

A long day of budget discussions is in store for the Wake County school board.

The school board will hold an all-day work session today on how to adjust the budget to reflect the additional cuts that need to be made since the state budget was adopted. Board members have expressed unhappiness with the school district budget proposal adopted in April.

The discussion had gotten so contentious that the board majority initially voted in June to not adopt a continuing budget that would have allowed Wake to keep operating until the final state budget was adopted. After the  situation was explained, board members passed the interim budget resolution.

You probably won't see many, if any, Wake County school board members at tonight's public meeting on the superintendent search.

Heidrick & Struggles, the search firm hired by the board, is advising board members to stay away from the various public and private input meetings. The same advice was given by board member Debra Goldman, chairwoman of the search committee, at the July 1 meeting.

Goldman said they can't keep board members from coming. But she said "it's in the best interest of getting the stakeholder feedback that we're not all slitting there."

The hunt for Wake County's next superintendent could be a really secret search.

As noted in today's article, the school board's superintendent search committee agreed Thursday that no names would be publicly released before finalists are identified. But Debra Goldman, the chairwoman of the committee, said there are reasons why they might not want to release the name of anyone other that the person who is hired.

Goldman said a strong candidate might not want to be considered as a finalist if the person knew that his/her identity will be released to the public with the chance of not being hired.

Here's a recap of today's Wake County superintendent search committee meeting.

The committee agreed to keep the list of applicants confidential until they come up with a list of finalists. The committee also allowed the search firm of Heidrick & Struggles to begin advertising for the position with a Sept. 1 application deadline.

The ad, which will have a preliminary job description, will go out before public and private meetings are held with groups about what characteristics are desired in the next superintendent. Among the groups getting a private meeting with Heidrick is the Civitas Institute, the conservative group recently named a provider of board training by the board majority.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE OTHER GROUPS GETTING PRIVATE MEETINGS

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THAT GREAT SCHOOLS IN WAKE IS A 501(C)3 NON-PROFIT

The Wake County school board majority wants more authority over how the superintendent handles filling of administrative positions, including principals.

The school board's policy committee agreed today to recommend changing the policy on the duties of the superintendent. They want the superintendent to get the board's permission before reorganizing Central Office staff and deciding on principals.

Currently, the superintendent makes the final call on transferring principals between schools. As a courtesy, the board is notified about the transfers.