Wake County will need a new chief academic officer to go along with the new position of deputy superintendent for school performance.

The Jeferson County school board unanimously voted today to hire Donna Hargens, Wake's chief academic officer, to be the new superintendent starting Aug. 1. Click here for the Louisville Courier-Journal article about the hiring.

Here's the statement that Hargens gave to the Courier-Journal:

Wake County Schools Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens is sticking by her position that decisions about using diversity in student assignment are a school board issue.

As noted in an article that will appear in Thursday's Louisville Courier-Journal, Hargens said that decisions about using a diversity-based assignment policy are “public value choices” best left to “the board's governance role.” It's the same stance she took as Wake's interim superintendent.

“She's like Switzerland — she's neutral,” said former Wake County PTA Council President Liza Weidle in the article. “But she's had an incredible impact.”

UPDATE

The Courier-Journal is reporting online today that the Louisville chapter of the NAACP is calling on the Jefferson County school board to reopen the superintendent search. The NAACP says they're not satisfied with the responses from both finalists about desegregation issues.

Wake County Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens says her desire to become superintendent in Jefferson County shouldn't be viewed as her being dissatisfied with the situation here.

As noted in today's article, Hargens said her career goal is to become a superintendent. She added she was happy with the what's been happening under Tony Tata's tenure as superintendent.

"Mr. Tata has done a  fabulous job and Wake County is moving in a fabulous direction," Hargens said.

Donna Hargens, the Wake County school system’s chief academic officer, has been named a finalist for superintendent of Jefferson County Schools in Kentucky, according to published reports.

The Louisville Courier-Journal is reporting that Hargens and Christine Johns-Haines of Michigan were announced today as the two finalists to lead Jefferson County schools, which includes Louisville.

Hargens served as Wake’s interim superintendent from March 2010 through this January after Del Burns resigned and before Tony Tata was hired. Tata, who started in Wake on Jan. 31, said his first action as superintendent was to ask Hargens to stay on as chief academic officer.

UPDATE

Click here for the Jefferson County press release.

The (Louisville) Courier-Journal is warning that the "re-segregation" of the Wake County school system "is most certainly a cautionary tale for the Jefferson County Public Schools."

In an editorial today, the Courier-Journal says "the community must make it a priority — no, THE priority — of this election year to maintain solid support on the school board for the current assignment plan." As noted in two Sunday articles, Jefferson County switched to using socioeconomic diversity when it lost the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court case that restricted the use of race in student assignment.

"What happened in Wake County need not happen here," according to the editorial. "No, it must not happen here."

The push toward neighborhood schools in Wake County has definitely caught the eye of those who support socioeconomic diversity, both nationally and in Louisville.

The Jefferson County school system, which contains Louisville, was one of the districts in the landmark 2007 U.S. Supreme Court case that restricted the use of race in student assignment. Jefferson County school officials had looked to Wake for help in developing an assignment policy driven by socioecononomic diversity.

With four of seven school board seats on the ballot this year, supporters of Jefferson County's diversity efforts said in a Sunday (Louisville) Courier-Journal article that what happened in Wake should serve as a “wake-up call” in Louisville.

In a moment loaded with symbolism, school board chairman Kevin Hill took the unusual step of briefly turning the gavel over today to vice chairman Horace Tart to present the CUBE award to the school board.

Hill traveled to Texas earlier this month, just days after the board election, to accept the award from the National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE). Wake got the award for its diversity efforts.

Hill, from the speakers' podium, called the receipt of the award "one of the proudest moments in my long career with the Wake County Public School System."