It looks like Wake County school board member Debra Goldman may have filed a police complaint against school board vice chairman Keith Sutton following a heated exchange over the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

As noted in today's article, Goldman contacted a Cary police officer assigned to the school board meeting on Sept. 25 to lodge a complaint of communicating threats. The report shows the location where the threat was communicated was the school board offices and that the person who made the alleged threat was an "acquaintance."

While the report doesn't list the acquaintance's name and police won't say it either, the time listed on the report is 4 p.m. between the end of the recently completed closed session and the start of the open session vote on firing Tata.

Among the names appointed to a Wake County school board advisory council on Tuesday was the familiar one of Ellen Nightingale.

School board member Jim Martin tapped Nightingale to serve on his District 5 board advisory council as the rep for Conn Elementary School. Nightingale was a vocal public critic of the choice plan, speaking to media outlets and appearing at board meetings.

Nightingale had complained that although she lives in the Mordecai neighborhood near downtown Raleigh, she and several neighbors weren't able to get their kids into kindergarten after the first choice round.

CORRECTION/UPDATE

Nightingale says she lives in Oakwood, which is near Mordecai and that Conn is her closest school. Nightingale says that, despite being on Yevonne Brannon's email list, she's not a member of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition.

Plans for the Wake County school system's first career and technical education high school are going forward, but school board members have some questions.

The board voted Tuesday night to approve an interlocal agreement requesting the Wake County Board of Commissioners to lease, renovate and purchase the former Coca-Cola bottling facility at 2200 South Wilmington Street in South Raleigh.

But some board members are worried that the program they initially backed to offer options for students who don't want to go to college has turned into more of an early college concept. In addition, board members are also uncertain about what grades should be offered at the school.

You can take a glass is half empty or half full view of Wake County student assignment in the short term.

As noted in today's article, the good news for families in the immediate future is that the 2013-14 plan is expected to have relatively few reassignments. But it's very much a transitional plan with a new plan to be developed for the 2014-15 school year that's likely to include a lot more reassignments for things such as promoting balance in student achievement and socioeconomic diversity.

"We were looking at trying to give the staff and the parents a respite so we could have the larger discussion that it seems like we’re trying to have right now, that we could have the larger discussion to put together a sustainable assignment plan," said board chairman Kevin Hill.

Of the 20 speakers signed up for tonight's public comment session, nearly all the speakers at the Wake County school board meeting want to talk about the two single-sex leadership academies.

A large number of students and parents from the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy are in the audience. Speakers want to talk about approving the schematic designs for renovations for the two schools and the lease for the WYMLA to stay at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind.

Some families at the two schools are worried that the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata, who was a big backer of the program, could jeopardize the future of the program.

UPDATE

The board agreed to spend $3.4 million to renovate the former Thompson School in downtown Raleigh so the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy can relocate there next year.

The board approved spending $4.7 million to renovate part of the campus of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind that's housing the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy.

Before the votes, board member Jim Martin spoke to the students about issues such as the need to explain to others why school diversity is valuable and that per-pupil funding shouldn't be cut.  Students had talked about the diversity at the all-application school.

After the closed session tonight, the board voted to authorize negotiating a 20-year lease with the Morehead School to house the Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy.

The battle for state schools superintendent has some notable parallels with the Wake County school board's decision in 2010 over to who to hire as superintendent.

As noted in today's article, State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson, the Democratic incumbent, points to her career as an educator to argue she should get a third term. But Wake County school board member John Tedesco, her Republican challenger, argues that what's not needed is someone like Atkinson who has been part of the "Raleigh education establishment since 1976."

Similar issues were raised in 2010 when the Republican majority on the Wake school board opted to hire Tony Tata, a retired Army general, as superintendent over a career educator. Member of the Democratic board majority, who fired Tata on Sept. 25, had resisted efforts to make it possible for non-educators to hold the position.

Wake County's three new magnet schools and two revamped magnet schools will look to make a splash with parents for the 2013-14 school year.

As noted in today's article, staff unveiled at Thursday's meeting of the school board's student achievement committee the magnet programs that will be offered at the five schools covered by the federal MSAP grant.

Click here for a handout on the themes at the schools and where they'd fit in the magnet program pathways.

Congratulations tonight to Ken Branch of Brentwood Elementary School being named the Wake County school system's 2012 Principal of the Year and Ruth Ann Freeman of Bugg Elementary School being named Assistant Principal of the Year.

An interesting note here is that Brentwood is one of Wake's Renaissance schools, which have come under fire lately from members of the school board's Democratic majority.

Before his firing, Superintendent Tony Tata had repeatedly touted the academic gains at the Renaissance schools. A sore point, for the majority members, is the use of merit pay at the Renaissance schools.

It's looking less likely that the Wake County school board will push for a May 2013 school construction bond issue.

As noted in today's article, school board members Susan Evans, Jim Martin and Chris Malone all said after Wednesday's facilities committee meeting that a fall 2013 bond vote is more realistic. This comes after school board chairman Kevin Hill made similar remarks in Friday's meeting with N&O reporters and editors.

“There’s been a lot that’s gone poorly in the last few months,” Evans said. “The extra time will help us re-earn the public’s trust.”

One issue that the Wake County school board will have to decide for the 2013-14 student assignment plan is what to do with the feeder patterns that were part of the choice plan.

Staff recommended, as part of the now discarded draft base maps, honoring the choice plan feeders for middle school and high school. The board's agreement last week to work with the 11-12 base maps means reconciling cases where the feeders are different from the choice plan.

The Democratic board members have been openly skeptical of the choice plan's premise that parents could be guaranteed a K-12 feeder pattern. But at last week's work session, board member Susan Evans offered what she called a "good compromise."