It looks like most Wake County school board committees will be dissolved at the request of Superintendent Tony Tata.

Tata said at the March 15 board work session that he'll recommend doing away with the committees and presenting the information directly to the committee of the whole. He cited the amount of staff time spent on committee work for his recommendation.

The board is expected to officially discuss the issue at the April 5 committee of the whole (COW) meeting. While it wasn't spelled out March 15, it's expected that the change will only affect standing committees such as facilities, finance and policy and not the ad-hoc committees like the economically disadvantaged student performance task force.

Cash Michaels is using the AdvancED report to lash into the Republican majority on the Wake County school board as having no plan to help high-poverty schools that would result from ending the diversity policy.

In a blog post Thursday on the fifth part of his series in The Carolinian on the new Walnut Creek Elementary School, Michaels focuses on a section in the AdvancEd report that accused the board majority of having no plans to help high-poverty schools.

"When Board members were asked how they would ensure that schools with a significant population of low achieving students would be supported, there were no solutions or plans offered," according to the report. "High school principals noted deep concern that the new [neighborhood schools] policy would significantly compromise their ability to meet the needs of students.

The new budget being released this afternoon by Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata will understandably get most of the focus at the school board work session.

But another topic that will get discussion is whether the school board should keep its current committee structure. Much of the issue revolves around whether it's a drain on staff time for them to be involved in the various committees.

It's the latest chapter in the debate over whether the board should operate with committees, or at least the standing ones.

UPDATE

More details later.

The Wake County school board adopted its 2011 Legislative Agenda tonight after some unusual machinations.

After various motions, the board essentially adopted the draft agenda presented by staff. The big difference is that the board did decide to add a request that the General Assembly pass a law allowing the school board chair to vote on all issues.

The process for getting to the final outcome was convoluted.

Is the Wake County school board looking for a backdoor in case it loses accreditation from AdvancED?

The school board is set to discuss and vote today on its 2011 Legislative Agenda, which lists the issues it will lobby the General Assembly on. One of the items in the draft agenda is to "review the state accreditation process and provide clarification to the school system."

During the AdvancED fight, school board attorney Ann Majestic has broached to school board members the possibility of seeking state accreditation. The problem is it no longer exists in the form that Wake would want.

UPDATE

One issue that will likely wait two weeks is adding allowing the board chair to vote on all issues. The Democratic members objected to voting today, saying they want more information first on why the prohibition was added to the merger law.

There are some pretty unhappy Wake County principals when it comes to their views on the school board and the elimination of the diversity policy.

As noted in today's article, more than 20 percent of Wake's principals either complained about the school board or ending the diversity policy in anonymous responses given to Superintendent Tony Tata. This offers a rare public glimpse at what the people who are charged with implementing the school board's policies think about things.

“The tone for the current board majority is disrespectful to school staff members,” one principal wrote. “Dec. are made contrary to the values/truths about quality education. Local examples (Char. Meck) are ignored, data are ignored and political agendas prevail at the expense of students. What was once a flagship system is now a national joke.”

The issue of low teacher expectations for poor and minority students and the SAS EVAAS report came up during today's Wake County school board retreat.

Superintendent Tony Tata proposed adopting as a core belief that “all children, regardless of socio-economic environment, can be high achieving students.” In explaining the reason for it, Tata cited the EVAAS report and his conversation with a middle school teacher about math placement.

Tata said the EVAAS report showed to him there's a problem with minority and low-income students not being placed in challenging enough classes because of low expectations.

UPDATE

The board was trying to find a balance between saying it wanted to close the  gaps while not holding back high-achieving students.

The school board finished ahead of schedule today. Saturday's session has been cancelled.

Could the wording from the Oct. 5 resolution that killed the zone plan come back to bite the Wake County school board during the accreditation review?

As noted in today's article, Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, said the review team will question how the school board will follow through on the wording in the Oct. 5 resolution to provide “equity and equal opportunity” for all students. It's part of the review of whether the school board is following its own policies and procedures.

“We’re telling them it’s their right to assign students as they wish,” Elgart said. “But when you have a resolution that says you will ensure equality of opportunity, you have to say how you will do that.”

The response has been generally positive, especially from Wake County school leaders, about using the student assignment model from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.

It doesn't mean that Superintendent Tony Tata and school board members say they love everything about the new model. But as noted in today's article, Tata said he was impressed by the new model and expects his new task force to meld it into whatever is ultimately recommended.

"It seems to have a lot of community support," Tata said of the chamber plan. "It could be a good foundation."

Amid some questioning, the Wake County school board adopted today the guidelines that will be used to draw up board districts for the next decade.

The issue that drew the most discussion was whether to include a guideline designed to protect incumbent board members from being redistricted out. The board ultimately agreed to include this provision.

The incumbent guideline was used in 2001 but not in the draft proposal today from attorney Kieran Shanahan.

UPDATE

The school board also passed a resolution from Kevin Hill saying it "commits to develop a redistricting plan through an open, transparent, and inclusive manner."

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST TO LINKS FOR GUIDELINES, TIMELINE AND HILL RESOLUTION