Critics of the Wake County school board majority were repeatedly hitting on the charge this week that conservative businessmen Art Pope and Bob Luddy are directing the action from behind the scenes.

In a blog post Thursday, Rob Schofield of the liberal N.C. Policy Watch penned his song about the school board majority based on Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons." He closed out his version with "they owe their souls to Luddy and Pope."

Robert Grant started an online petition this week that, among other things, arguess the Wake Schools Community Alliance and Wake CARES "are not the so-called 'parents' advocacy groups' they claim to be, but rather right-wing astroturf organizations funded by Art Pope that do NOT reflect the beliefs of the majority of parents in Wake County."

Will the tense relationship between the Wake County school board majority and the Wake Education Partnership become more relaxed now?

As noted in today's article, members of the board majority are saying that the hiring of Steve Parrott to be the WEP's new president is a good sign. The traditionally good relationship between the board and the WEP has been strained over the elimination of the diversity policy.

“Our relationship hasn’t recently been the best,” said school board chairman Ron Margiotta. “It’s been strained. Hopefully we have someone now who will look at all the facts and not blindly support the past practices that were in place.”

The Wake County school board majority was essentially equated by diversity policy supporters to be demon possessed at this evening's prayer vigil at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh.

The Rev. Earl Johnson, pastor of Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh, asked the dozen clergy members in the audience to set aside one Sunday service in September for prayer. He urged them to pray for schools,  diversity in schools, student achievement and...

"Pray that this demonic presence that is trying to take over the school system will not prevail," Johnson said.

Today marks the start of a new calendar era for several Wake County schools.

Leesville Road elementary and middle schools will open back on a traditional calendar after having operated as year-round schools. Mills Park Elementary will make the switch to the traditional calendar after opening as a year-round school in 2009.

Today's opening of Mills Park Middle School reflects the first break with the prior board's policy of opening all new middle schools and elementary schools on a year-round calendar.

Are you looking for an "Anti Ron Marigotta" button?

It's one of the things being sold on the new website created by NC H.EA.T., the youth group formed in June to fight the Wake County school board majority. The button contains a picture of Margiotta, the chairman of the school board, with a slash running across his face.

For a $1, you can also buy a "Anti segregation" button or a "Listen To The Students" button.

It's not surprising that supporters of the Wake County school board majority are unhappy about the award that Gov. Bev Perdue gave Saturday to the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP.

In a blog post today, Bob Luebke of the conservative Civitas Institute writes that the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award given to Barber raises questions. Luebke writes that Barber is being lauded for opposing a move to neighborhood schools in Wake that's used in most of the state's school districts.

"If Perdue finds Barber’s work so laudatory, you have to wonder why either has said little to nothing about that same policy which has been in place for years in many of the state’s other school districts. The selective indignation makes it difficult to take either’s comments seriously."

UPDATE

Click here for a WTVD story in which Kathleen Brennan, a founder of Wake CARES, said she was "shocked and appalled" that Perdue gave Barber the award. But Patty Williams, the communications person for the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, said that Barber "deserves to be noted by the community as an advocate for all chidlren."

A Sunday Los Angeles Times article is challenging some popular conceptions about which teachers are effective and where they work.

The newspaper analyzed student records in the Los Angeles Unified School System to perform a value-added analysis of teacher effectiveness. The newspaper's plan to post online a database of the results of 6,000 elementary school teachers has produced an uproar, including a mass boycott from the teacher's union.

Findings included:

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is arguably taking out of context some of the criticisms leveled against the Wake County school system.

In a press release today, GSIW says that private school supporters are calling the school system "unpopular" and a "failure." It says these remarks "appears part of an orchestrated plan to discredit and undermine the award-winning Wake County Public School System."

“The public schools are the crown jewel of our local economy. We should be advocating for them—not condemning them,” said Yevonne Brannon, GSIW Chairwoman in the press release. “It is an insult to the intelligence of our educators and students when we suggest that one of the top school districts in the nation is a failure. If our schools are so bad, then why have they been held up as a national model of success?”

Whether or not you agree with the review, it looks like the Wake County school board majority's policies will face tough scrutiny from an accreditation organization.

As noted in today's article, AdvancED gets dozens of complaints a year about school districts but only investigates a handful. Mark Elgart, the president and CEO of AdvancED, said they felt the concerns raised in the state NAACP complaint and in informal complaints later filed by other critics of the board majority warranted an in-depth review of Wake.

"It is rare, and it is serious,' Elgart said of the pending Wake review.

Retired Wake County Assistant Superintendent Chuck Dulaney argued Monday night that student assignment can be an effective tool for helping academic achievement.

Dulaney, the first speaker at the Great Schools in Wake Coalition's back-to-schools forum, said that using student assignment to balance schools can provide students the opportunities and support they need to succeed. Along the way, he said the distance that students travel to school is less important than what's at the school they attend

"Student assignment has a lot to do with opportunity," said Dulaney, who oversaw student assignment until he retired March 1. "The mixture of students in schools have a lot to do with the opportunities in those schools."