Is trying to build consensus a sign of leadership or weakness when it comes to developing a new student assignment model in Wake County?

As noted in today's article, both major factions on the school board have radically different takes on using consensus to develop a new model to replace the defunct zone plan. Consensus is being stressed by the school board members who had fought the elimination of the diversity policy.

The process presented last week by school board member Kevin Hill stresses "consensus decision making."

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta has accused board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman of disloyalty and creating a "stalemate" by her recent actions on the student assignment plan.

In an interview today on the Bill LuMaye show on WPTF, Margiotta said Goldman is "moving away from previous commitments and obligations" to the voters. He basically wrote off being able to implement the new community-based assignment system before next year's school board election.

Margiotta said he was "sorry to say" that Goldman was supportive of board member Kevin Hill's new proposal to slow down the process.

Does being "deliberate" mean being thorough or mean slowing things down until the next Wake County school board election?

As noted in today's article, those are the two perspectives being mentioned for school board member Kevin Hill's proposal to slow down the process for developing he new student assignment model. Perhaps not surprisingly, reaction largely split along partisan lines.

"It's a deliberate approach," said Democratic school board member Keith Sutton. "We are going to have some inclusion and some consensus building."

Wake County school board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman could find herself being grilled by other board members today on what to do next following the recently passed board directive on student assignment.

Goldman had joined the four Democrats on the board on Oct. 5 to back the resolution written by Kevin Hill and Keith Sutton to end all work on the zone-based plan. But there are a lot of questions about where the directive leaves the district.

“Mrs. Goldman and Mr. Sutton need to tell us what they intend to do next,” said Republican school board member Chris Malone. “They can’t simply say what they don’t want.”

Wake County school board members will be out and about at different community events this evening.

The most media attention will likely be placed on the forum that board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman will hold at Cary Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. to hear residents talk about student assignment. Board member Deborah Prickett, who got into a heated exchange with Goldman last week, said she'll also attend.

There's word that board chairman Ron Margiotta may also be in the audience to hear Goldman tonight.

The impact of last week's resolution scrapping work on the zone plan is uppermost on the minds of people at today's Wake County student assignment committee meeting.

School board member John Tedesco, chairman of the committee, opened the meeting by saying he was going "to address the 800 pound gorilla in the room" caused by last week's vote.

Tedesco said that the implications of the resolution are still being reviewed. He said he was going ahead with the previously scheduled discussion on equity and school funding issues because they're still relevant.

The bad blood following Tuesday night's vote to scrap work on the community zone plan was in clear evidence among what had been the majority on the Wake County school board.

As noted in today's article, harsh words were exchanged, especially from board member John Tedesco. In the immediate aftermath of the vote, Tedesco approached Goldman and offered a handshake as he said “I’ve enjoyed our friendship while it lasted.”

“This wasn’t a win for community schools,” Tedesco said after the vote. “This wasn’t a win for diversity. This was a win for Debra Goldman.”

UPDATE

Click here to read the resolution that was passed Tuesday. Click here to compare it to the resolution that had been passed in March.

Wake County school board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman has proposed going back to scratch on community based schools.

In her revised directive, Goldman calls for abandoning all work that's been done so far on establishing the community assignment zones. "Any and all efforts to create zone based assignment model will cease effective immediately."

The resolution also calls for providing equity and and equal opportunity for a sound, basic education, for all students, as provided by in our Constitution." This is along with things such as parental choice, proximity and stability.

UPDATE

The resolution passed by a 5-3 vote with Goldman joining what had been the minority faction.

Goldman is still saying that tonight's vote means they're still going ahead with community-based schools.

Sutton says he and Kevin Hill drafted the resolution.

Wake County school board member John Tedesco's proposal for overhauling underperforming schools in conjunction with the new student assignment drew skepticism last week from the board minority and their reps on the student assignment committee.

Tedesco unveiled last week the idea of expecting schools to have at least a 70 percent proficiency rate on state exams regardless of their populations. He said the solution to improving academic achievement is to educate the students instead of distributing them around.

"We have to make sure we can get every kid to read regardless of their background," Tedesco said.

Is the Wake County school board's student assignment committee moving too quickly to make changes to the draft assignment map?

As noted in today's article, the committee voted 2-1 to approve changes Tuesday affecting more than 4,200 students. School board member John Tedesco, chairman of the committee, said they wanted to prove to the public that the lines in the map are fluid.

Tedesco said he also wanted to take care of obvious problems such as zone lines that divide neighborhoods.