There were plenty of apologies and recriminations coming from Wake County school board members on Tuesday over the bus problems.

As noted in today's article, Superintendent Tony Tata and board members apologized to parents and students for the problems last week. But also amid the apologies, the new Democratic board members worked to distance themselves from the problems, blaming staff for telling them they could implement the new transportation plan.

In addition, the choice plan was also a target of the new Democratic board members.

More to come later, but Wake County school board members and Superintendent Tony Tata offered apologies tonight for the way bus service operated last week and the long registration lines at Central Office.

Words like "dismal," "unacceptable" and "failure" were used to describe the bus service last week. Board members Christine Kushner and Jim Martin called for an independent audit of the transportation department.

Along with the apologies, the new Democratic school board members blamed the bus and registration problems on the choice plan and changes made in student assignment by the former GOP majority. This drew a sharp response from the Republican board members.

How will the Wake County school board, in practice, balance the competing goals in the student assignment directive of proving stability, proximity and diversity?

School board members Susan Evans and Jim Martin provided some insight of how they'll approach the assignment issue during the Aug. 21 board work session on the federal magnet school grant. The issue was over staff not recommending magnetizing Barwell Road, Creech Road and Hodge Road elementary schools because it would result in reassigning out part of their enrollments and having a negative impact on minority isolation at surrounding schools.

Some board members gave different reasons for questioning whether that concern should keep the schools from being magnetized.

What role should Montessori education continue to play in the Wake County school system?

As noted in today's article, school administrators say they still think that Wake should offer Montessori even though Poe Elementary School hasn't been able to attract enough magnet students.

But with Lynn Road Elementary School's PTA balking at receiving Montessori, Wake is back to determining who should become the new Montessori school. Options include finding an existing school which would support Montessori more or just opening a new school to offer that theme.

Wake County school board member Jim Martin took a decidedly less rah-rah approach to the reporting of the school district's latest test score results.

During Tuesday's board meeting, Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore gave this presentation that highlighted academic gains made in the 2011-12 school year. While repeatedly saying he appreciated the advancements that were made, Martin said he was concerned that the data was being presented in the "rosiest" way possible without the deeper analysis he felt was needed.

Martin said he was also trying to prepare the public for next year when Wake's test results are expected to drop with the introduction of new tests under the common core curriculum. He pointed back to how test scores dropped after the state renormed the end-of-grade exams in the middle part of the last decade.

Former Gov. Jim Martin has one tie to the man who appointed him to lead an audit of the academic fraud at UNC-Chapel Hill.

He and Chancellor Holden Thorp serve on the board of directors of the Institute for Defense & Business, a nonprofit that helps the military apply business principles and technology to do a better job.

Martin is the chairman of the nonprofit's board of directors. It is based in Chapel Hill, and includes a number of business and university leaders such as Roger Perry, a local developer and former UNC-CH trustee. Martin and the rest of the board are all unpaid, Martin said.

Martin said today he did not think the connection created a conflict of interest.

"Maybe it's how the chancellor knew me personally because of that, but it certainly doesn't obligate me in any way," Martin said. "And more importantly, he at the beginning has assured me there's no restriction on what I do and where I go. So I'm flexible and can go where the evidence leads."

Martin said he had asked the university to disclose his role on the board. A news release did that, but did not mention that Thorp also serves on the board.

Thorp's predecessor, James Moeser, also served on the board, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Martin, a Republican, is also a former congressman and a former chemistry professor at Davidson College. He also served a term on the UNC Board of Governors.

What would Wake County's magnet schools look like if they lost those programs and were only populated by the students who live near them?

That's a question that school administrators tried to answer last week for school board members reviewing the magnet program. This chart indicates that many magnet schools, particularly those inside the Raleigh Beltline, would have higher percentages of minority and free-and-reduced lunch (FRL) students if only populated by proximity students.

You can see a big demographic difference from the magnet population going to the schools and the base population being assigned out.

It took 18 months, but the Wake County school board has finally adopted a strategic plan that's supposed to guide the operations of the school district.

The document, which was proposed by Superintendent Tony Tata and required by AdvancED, went through multiple revisions to get as much support as possible from the school board. The final version, which includes various targets, won bipartisan support on Tuesday.

But questions about the level of autonomy that Central Office should give to schools and the role of performance pay/merit pay for teachers kept the vote from being unanimous.

UNC officials appear headed toward creating an outside panel to look into the academic fraud case that has now drawn significant national attention.

Former Gov. Jim Martin has apparently been asked to serve on the panel. When asked this morning, he didn't deny it. His response: "You are on your toes."

He said he expected an announcement about the panel later today.

The academic fraud involves at least 54 classes in which there was little or no instruction, and dozens of independent studies that showed little accountability. All were courses within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, but university officials say the only two culpable people in the case are the former chairman, Julius Nyang'oro, who was forced to retire in July, and a former department manager, Deborah Crowder, who had retired in 2009.

The university's internal probe covered the period of 2007 to 2011, but new evidence suggests the fraud may have gone back to the late 1990s. A 2001 test transcript we found on UNC-CH's website and published in Saturday's paper -- because it shared many similarities with the no-show classes and independent studies -- appears to be that of former UNC football and basketball player Julius Peppers.

Rival N.C. State University fans dissected the web address for that test transcript to find a link to what appears to be the real one. UNC-CH officials have only said the transcript appears to be real, but they can't discuss it because of a federal privacy law for education records.

A former chemistry professor at Davidson College, Martin was governor for two terms from 1985 to 1993. He also served a term on the UNC Board of Governors.

The university has been under pressure from faculty and others to set up an outside independent investigation of the scandal. It is unclear exactly what duties this planned panel will have.

UNC-CH officials could not be reached.

Student assignment and diversity seems to find its way into just about every topic that's discussed by the Wake County school board.

As noted in today's article, the discussion about which schools should get magnet programs spun into a discussion about diversity as a factor in the student assignment plan. At issue is what to do to reduce racial and minority isolation at schools, which is the main purpose of the new federal grant Wake will seek.

The goal of federal Magnet School Assistance Program grants is to "assist in the desegregation of public schools by supporting the elimination, reduction, and prevention of minority group isolation in elementary and secondary schools with substantial numbers of minority group students.