Here's a quick recap of today's Wake County school board student assignment work session.

No decisions, formal or informal, were made during today's at times tense discussion. But some changes are on the table for further discussion.

Several Democratic members said they'd support delaying implementation of the plan's feeder patterns by a year while staff did more review of the issue. They repeatedly talked about the unintended consequences caused by the feeders.

Speakers will once again have three minutes each during the public comment section at Wake County school board meetings.

School board chairman Kevin Hill said he'd institute the change starting in January. It came after new school board member Jim Martin said giving three minutes would be a "gesture of good listening" as he also noted that speakers at Wake County commissioner meetings get three minutes.

Former board chairman Ron Margiotta had cut the time to two minutes in 2010, saying it would let the board hear from more speakers during the lengthy public comment sessions. Margiotta kept it at at two minutes even after the numbers dwindled for public comment.  

One test for the new board majority will be what happens when large crowds show up to speak. Will the board extend public comments past 30 minutes or tell remaining speakers to go at the end of the meeting? The old board went both ways.

It's looking pretty clear that the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board will not be retaining the legal services of Republican attorney Kieran Shanahan.

Shanahan's legal contract came up last week during the school board's discussion of a proposal to increase Tharrington Smith's hourly legal rate by $5. During the work session discussion, it was noted that Shanahan's law firm is still under contract through June to receive up to $25,000.

The new unanimously approved contract will pay Tharrington Smith's partners $190 per hour, $175 an hour for associates and $95 per hour for paralegals. It's roughly a 2.7 percent increase for partners and 2.9 percent for associates.

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 conservative Wake Community Network is continuing its criticism of Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby for seeking mediation for the 30 people arrested for disrupting Wake County school board meetings.

In today's Daily Journal, Joey Stansbury contrasts the mediation efforts for the school board protesters with the Occupy Raleigh protesters who've shown up in court ready to go to trial. Stansbury believes that the Occupy Raleigh protesters were less confrontational and volatile than the school board protesters.

"So Willoughby is concerned about court dockets with (the Rev. William) Barber as it relates to BOE meetings but not with Occupy Raleigh?" Stansbury writes. "Why? Why the difference between Occupy Raleigh protestors and those arrested at Wake BOE meetings? We'll let our readers make that judgment."

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata found himself being challenged Saturday by the new school board members on his idea of giving school autonomy based on student achievement.

Tata supports using what's called "managed performance empowerment," a hybrid between giving principals no control and total control over how they run their schools. It's part of his draft strategic plan that he's hoping the board will adopt.

"Called Managed Performance Empowerment (MPE), the theory of action grants flexibility and decision-making authority to schools based on successful performance," says Tata's draft strategic plan. "From a school support perspective, we will measure our school performance based first and foremost on student achievement and place schools along a continuum of performance to best target our support and resources as a district."

It took a lot of discussion on Saturday before the Wake County school board finally agreed to modify the district's core beliefs.

The board made two changes from this original document approved by the old board in February. This new set modifies the wording about academically challenging students and the role of teachers and principals in student achievement.

The impetus for the changes came from the new school board members.

The question of whether the Wake County school board should return to the county around $15 million in excess fund balance is likely to be a big issue during the budget process next year.

In a nutshell, the school system's undesignated fund balance, colloquially called its rainy day fund, has grown so much in the past few years that board policy dictates that about $15 million be returned to county commissioners.

But with next year's budget being tight, is that the right call? Also, it would take a two-thirds majority to waive policy to keep the $15 million so would a bi-partisan coalition agree to that decision?

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST, WHICH NOW INCLUDES LINK TO TUESDAY DISCUSSION ON RICK & DONNA MARTINEZ SHOW ON WPTF

It doesn't look like there's much doubt that the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board will restore the standing committees.

But, as noted in today's article, the discussion during Saturday's retreat came with some recriminations. Members of the new majority complained about how they felt things had been governed over the past two years by the ousted Republican majority.

Interestingly enough, things had been relatively smooth heading into that part of the discussion after the discussion on amending the core beliefs.

New Wake County school board member Jim Martin is drawing criticism for his decision not be sworn in on a Bible on Tuesday.

In today's edition of the Daily Journal, the conservative Wake Community Network questions Martin's statement that he chose to be sworn in over the U.S. Constitution because of his support for separation of church and state.

"Strange how we've not seen any mention of his concern about this separation as every 'John 2:16' organization in Wake County and beyond inserted the God prop over the last two years," Joey Stansbury writes.