Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata and three school board members are heading to Pittsburgh this weekend to see what education lessons they can learn from the Steel City.

The Wake school contingent is among a group of local elected officials, government officials, business people and community leaders who are participating in this year's Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Inter-City Visit and Leadership Conference. The group will meet with different Pittsburgh leaders to see how the city has transformed itself.

On the education side, the part of the trip that will most likely be relevant is a discussion about The Pittsburgh Promise Program. Students who graduate from Pittsburgh Public Schools or local charter high schools with at least a 2.5 GPA and 90 percent attendance record receive up to $40,000 in college scholarships for in-state schools.

SEE UPDATE/CORRECTION ON HOW COSTS OF TRIP ARE BEING COVERED

Has the new Wake County student assignment plan discouraged businesses from coming to the area?

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane caused a stir when she raised the issue during the joint meeting of the Wake County Mayors Association and the school board. McFarlane said she is starting to hear that some businesses have second thoughts about coming here.

Harvey Schmitt, president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and a backer of the new choice plan, said he was not aware of any company that has chosen not to relocate to Raleigh because of the school system. Schmitt said that McFarlane was, understandably, reacting to anxiety expressed by constituents in pockets of town where schools are in high demand and overcrowded.

Michael Alves stands to get hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Wake County school system for his help implementing the new controlled-choice student assignment plan.

The school board will vote today on this contract to pay the Alves Educational Consulting Group up to $110,000 for the rest of the fiscal year. The contract pays Alves' firm for services in support of implementation of the assignment plan and the continued utilization of his proprietary "Controlled Choice" software system.

The contract expires June 30. But the contract also contains wording that it's expected to be renewed and in effect for at least the next three years.

UPDATE

The contract was approved 6-3. Jim Martin voted no. I'm not sure who else did.

Should the Wake County school board move quickly to extend Superintendent Tony Tata's contract?

As noted in today's article, Tata is generally getting good reviews as he hits the one-year anniversary mark of his tenure on Tuesday. But he also faces some challenges, including potentially from members of the new Democratic school board majority.

Republican school board members are talking about wanting the board to take action next month to extend Tata's contract past the June 30, 2014 end date.

The issue of Michael Alves' unannounced private meeting with the new Democratic members of the Wake County school board won't seem to go away.

The issue was revisited with some heated comments during Tuesday's board meeting. The discussion, more of which is detailed later in the post, shows the continuing wariness between the Republican and Democratic members.

More recently, Terry Stoops, director of education studies for the conservative John Locke Foundation, brought up the issue in a Thursday blog post.

Who will the Democratic majority on the Wake County school board side with on the new student assignment plan?

As noted in today's article, different influential groups have taken opposing sides on the plan. Will the Democratic board members side with the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership who want the plan to be implemented for this fall?

Or will the new majority side with the Great Schools in Wake Coalition's call for the plan to be delayed a year?

The Republican members of the Wake County school board are not happy that they weren't notified that education consultant Michael Alves was holding a private meeting with the new Democratic board members.

Word about the meeting because public during Tuesday's board work session after GOP board member Debra Goldman asked about the references that the Democratic members were making about having talked with Alves.

"Did I miss a meeting where Mr. Alves came and talked to the board?" Goldman questioned Democratic board chairman Kevin Hill.

UPDATE

CLARIFIED THAT IT'S THE GREATER RALEIGH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THAT HAS RETAINED ALVES TO HELP WAKE WITH THE PLAN

KEVIN HILL AND JIM MARTIN NOW SAY THAT THE MEETING WITH ALVES TOOK PLACE DEC. 7, THE DAY AFTER THE NEW MEMBERS WERE SWORN IN.

There's really not much doubt that if the new Wake County student assignment plan is implemented for the 2012-13 school year that it will be changed from what was adopted in October.

But, as noted in today's article, the jury is out on how extensive the changes would be. The starting point will be the Jan. 3 work session in which board members will go through their concerns in detail with staff.

"We’ve got one chance to make it right and for everyone to feel a strong level of comfort,” said Democratic board vice chairman Keith Sutton. “The problem is we’re not getting that comfort level. To raise that level of comfort will require some give and take.”

The review team from AdvancED will begin today the interviews that will help determine whether Wake County's high schools remain accredited.

The interview schedule for today includes seven current school board members and the three newly elected board members. Also on tap today are Superintendent Tony Tata, teachers and high school principals.

Wednesday's interview schedule includes two school board members, Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore, the chief officers, area superintendents, the student assignment task force and the student body presidents.

Tomorrow's interview schedule also includes several community members and groups, including the state NAACP, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, the Wake Schools Community Alliance, the Wake PTA Council, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.

In a near duplicate of its robocall, Civitas Action is urging voters in this campaign mailer to tell Wake County school board member Kevin Hill to support the new student assignment plan.

The mailer from the conservative advocacy group says Hill voted no "on a bipartisan plan for stability, proximity and academic achievement." It also says he voted no "to parents having choice in where their children go to school."

The mailer also says that "Democrats, Republicans, the Chamber of Commerce and Wake Education Partnership support the choice plan."

"Tell Kevin Hill he should support the bi-partisan plan and parental choice — not long bus rides," according to the mailer.