Today marks the official end of the Del Burns era in the Wake County school system.

In announcing his resignation as superintendent on Feb. 16, Burns had set June 30 as his final day. He's been on paid administrative leave since March 9 following his public criticism of the school board majority and their plan to end of the diversity policy.

Aside from a few brief stints in the private sector and in the Pitt County school system, Burns has worked in Wake since 1976. He's been superintendent since July 1, 2006 after being hired by the old board to replace the retiring Bill McNeal.

So what will the Wake County school board majority get for paying nearly double the price of the nearest competitor for hiring Heidrick & Struggles to be the superintendent search firm?

As noted in today's article, that extra money means Heidrick will recruit non-educators to be applicants for the position. School board member John Tedesco said they felt that Heidrick would do the best job of the search firms of getting national candidates and people from the non K-12 world.

While not saying that a non-educator would be hired, Tedesco pointed to all the educators who are in senior positions who could assist the new superintendent.

The Wake County school board has reached a deal with Donna Hargens over how much additional money she'll get to serve as interim superintendent.

Under a deal signed June 1, Hargens received an extra $3,000 per month for March, April, May and June. She'll begin getting an extra $5,000 per month starting in July.

The post June increase in Hargens' monthly pay coincides with the official departure of Del Burns as superintendent. He's been on paid administrative leave since March.

The Wake County school board's superintendent search committee has backed hiring Chicago-based Heidrick & Struggles to help conduct the search for a new search.

Heidrick & Struggles was backed Monday night over three cheaper firms. Heidrick is offering to do the search for $82,500 plus expenses while the N.C. School Boards Association was the cheapest at $15,000 plus expenses.

Debra Goldman, chairwoman of the board's superintendent search committee, said they were impressed by Heidrick & Struggles' expertise. Heidrick has been involved in superintendent searches such as Houston and Philadelphia.

Wake County Superintendent Del Burns will be honored today for his many years of service to the school system.

But don't expect the celebration to be held by the school board, whose new majority put Burns on paid leave for the complaints he made about them during media interviews. Instead, a group of former school board members will be hosting a celebratory dinner tonight for Burns.

"This is the proper thing to do," said former school board member Patti Head, who organized tonight's celebration. "This is a celebration."

There could be a recommendation tonight on which headhunter to hire to help the Wake County school board find a new superintendent to replace Del Burns.

The school board's superintendent search committee will interview tonight the last of the four firms who've submitted proposals. The other three firms were interviewed last week.

Debra Goldman, chairwoman of the search committee, said they may be in a position tonight to make a recommendation, which would still need to be approved by the full board. The committee could recommend one of the four firms or say they don't like any of them and ask for a new round of offers.

Wake County Superintendent Del Burns may not be showing up for work anymore, but he's still having an impact on the school district.

Interim Superintendent Donna Hargens said she's been in contact with Burns several times since she took over for him on March 9. She's making use of the option that was included in the March 9 school board decision that put Burns on paid administrative leave through his June 30 resignation date.

New interim Wake County Schools Superintendent Donna Hargens says she's learned a lot from the superintendents she's served under, including Del Burns.

But one of the most important lessons Hargens seems to have picked up from watching Burns is not to publicly criticize the school board. As noted in today's article, Hargens declined to give her opinion on the changes being advocated by the new school board majority.

“The board is dealing with complex issues,” Hargens said. “Those are governance issues. My focus is on learning and teaching.”

It looks like Donna Hargens will be running the day-to-day operations of the Wake County school system for awhile.

As noted in today's article, the board's announcement Tuesday that Hargens will become interim superintendent means she'll likely hold the job for several months until a permanent superintendent is named. There's also the possibility she could get the job for keeps.

Although members of the new majority want a national search, Hargens' appointment doesn't include a restriction that she can't seek the permanent position.

The Wake County school board delayed a vote today on adopting the school bell schedules to see if staff can make any changes.

Parents aren't happy with the prospect of starting most elementary schools at 9:30 a.m. The boad waived the policy saying the bell schedules need to be adopted by the end of March.

The good news for Heritage Elementary parents, regardless of the final board decision, is that staff now wants to move it from the first tier to the second tier. Originally staff wanted it on the third tier.

The board reaffirmed by a 5-4 vote the motion to put Supt. Del Burns on administrative leave through June 30. The board also voted unanimously to authorize board chairman Ron Margiotta to create a superintendnet search committee.