Here's a recap of the interviews today that Linda Gunter and Anna Johnson went through for the Wake County school board District 9 vacancy.

Gunter said she wanted to give back to the community, mentioning several times about having been a state Senator in the early 1990s and a Cary High School social studies teacher for 30 years. Gunter talked about how she brought in her students to the General Assembly to speak on issues.

If appointed, Gunter said she'd resign from her position as a registered lobbyist for the N.C. Association of Educators.

Here's a condensed recap of today's press conference held by Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata said his staff will work through the weekend to be able to present at Tuesday's school board meeting the impact of making adjustments to the feeder patterns. He didn't go into specifics but said they're addressing some areas of concern that have been raised.

Tata said they'll also present info on the feasibility of making changes such as raising student achievement over proximity in the selection process and setting aside 15 percent of the seats at the high-performing regional choice schools for applicants from low-performing areas.

Is the Wake County school system undergoing "militarization" under the tenure of Superintendent Tony Tata?

That's a charge leveled in this Dec. 16 article by Jason Langberg and Lewis Pitts from the liberal Advocates for Children's Services. The article points to Tata's military career, the requirement of Junior ROTC for the new single-sex leadership academies and Wake's recent involvement in cybersecurity competitions.

The authors start by calling the Occupy Wall Street movement an "education justice movement." The piece charges that public education has "undergone a corporate coup" with the "mega-buck mafia’s buyout of public education."

It looks like there's still a solid majority on the Wake County school board to implement the new single-gender leadership academies for next school year.

As noted in today's article, school board member Keith Sutton said he still strongly backs the new schools even though several groups, including the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, raised concerns in a Thursday memo. So even with the new members being sworn in Tuesday, Sutton and the four Republicans who voted yes in October should be enough to keep it moving.

Sutton is such a strong backer that he and Superintendent Tony Tata were in Chicago on Friday to visit the Urban Prep Academy, a male single-gender school that has seen phenomenal success.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

A coalition of liberal groups is urging the Wake County school system to halt plans to open a pair of single-sex leadership academies next year.

In this memorandum sent Thursday to Wake Superintendent Tony Tata and school board members, the groups argue that approval of the academies was rushed through without enough input or review. The groups also oppose having single-sex schools and the requirement that students at the academies participate in the Junior ROTC program.

“Instead of spending precious funds on the proposed single-sex academies, spend them on improving and expanding alternative educational programs for struggling students,” says the memo.

The memo was signed by the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, Advocates for Children’s Services, the YWCA of the Greater Triangle, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children, the North Carolina chapter of the ACLU and CHOICES — a group that’s criticized JROTC programs.

The anti-Junior ROTC movement appears to be out at tonight's Wake County school board meeting.

Five of the 11 speakers have signed up to speak about a proposal to add an Army JROTC unit at Knightdale High. The board is also set to ratify the prior agreement to set up an Army JROTC program at Garner High.

"JROTC is part of the military industrial complex that promotes and profits from war," said Sandy Irving.

UPDATE

The JROTC program was approved as part of the consent agenda. Only school board member Anne McLaurin voted against the consent agenda. She didn't give a reason.

Here are a few more tidbits from today's press conference with Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata said he's been reviewing capacity figures and thinks they can handle the requests from families who don't like the new feeder patterns. He said one thing they're still reviewing is the transitional capacity figures for schools.

“I feel like that where we have some of these points of concern that the parents that are proximate and feel that their feeder pattern may take them away, there is enough space for the numbers of students that want to get into their more proximate school,” Tata said. “Now will that happen in every case? We don’t know.”

Wake County's two new single-gender leadership academies are undergoing some changes before they open the doors for the 2012-13 school year.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Wake is now looking at partnering with Peace University to house both schools on their campus. The earlier plan was to have the male academy at the Longview School site and the female school at Raleigh Charter High's former space at Pilot Mill.

Wake will now only require that ninth-graders take Junior ROTC instead of having all grades in the program.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata told school board members today he needs their commitment to implement a $130.3 million construction program that includes two single-gender schools, the K-8 Hilburn Elementary project, a career and technical education school and a science academy.

Tata said he's been talking with multiple groups on the various innovative projects. But he said he needs the board's support now to show others Wake is serious with implementation.

“We need to demonstrate the board’s commitment to those people we’re dealing with daily," Tata said.

UPDATE

Earlier, a motion was defeated 5-4 on party lines to have separate votes on the single-sex schools and the Hilburn Elementary conversion.

The number of non-magnet school options has been expanding under Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's watch.

As noted in today's article, Tata is now promoting a pair of single-gender leadership academies, a science academy and the Hilburn Elementary K-8 conversion. This along, with his STEM and Global Schools programs, have blurred the lines between magnet and non-magnet schools.

A big focus on Tuesday was the proposed creation of a leadership academy for male students and one for female students. School administrators touted their academic benefits.

SEE END OF POST FOR LINK TO HANDOUTS FROM THE PRESENTATION