In an often contentious debate, the Wake County school board voted tonight to reduce public comment to once a month and eliminate standing committees.

The decision to change one regular meeting a month to a work session with no public comment was approved by a 5-4 vote. By the same 5-4 vote, the board rejected an amendment from Keith Sutton which would have set aside 30 to 45 minutes for public comment at the monthly work sessions.

The vote to eliminate the standing committees was 5-3 with Sutton crossing lines.

Some Wake County school administrators are sweating their futures now that school board members have asked interim Superintendent Donna Hargens to review whether jobs can be eliminated.

As noted in today's article, board members asked Hargens to look at more than a dozen senior administrative positions and come up with a recommendation on those positions next week.

Cutting some of those jobs could help offset the cost of restoring some of the parent counseling positions at Project Enlightenment. The board had also asked Hargens to make a recommendation on those jobs next week.

To make it easier for everyone to find, here's the handout from Tuesday's Wake County student assignment committee meeting showing the various sample zones.

The handout lists the maps, the schools that are in each zone and the enrollment projections for each zone. (Click here for color maps.) There are a couple of big caveats, such as how the enrollment numbers don't include magnet students, just where all the raw kids are projected to be.

But this doesn't mean that they're not including magnets for the new zones. School board member John Tedesco again said Tuesday that he expects many of the current magnets to remain so under the new zones.

UPDATE

I've put links at the end of the post for larger color maps of each zone. I've fixed the link for the high school geographic map.

The state NAACP will hold a press conference today in which the 19 people arrested at last week's Wake County school board meeting will speak out about why they used civil disobedience.

In a media advisory sent Monday night, the NAACP said the people who were arrested will "object to the selective detention of Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Nancy Petty," who were arrested for violating a school district trespass notice.

They'll also "protest the rough handling and momentary arrest of school board member Keith Sutton by the police, even though he was attempting to calm the situation." Sutton wasn't among the 19 people arrested but he has demanded an apology for the way he was treated by Raleigh police.

UPDATE

Wake has sent trespassing notices to the people arrested at last week's meeting. They're barred from school board meetings unless they provide written assurance that they're not going to disrupt the proceedings.

Whether or not you agree with Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker's statements that members of the Wake County school board majority "are not from the area," he did put a spotlight on the tensions between newcomers and long-time residents.

As noted in today's article, three of the five majority members have moved to Wake over the past decade. In contrast, three of the four minority members have lived in Raleigh since at least the 1970s.

Minority members are distancing themselves from Meeker's remarks that the majority members "don't share our values." But minority members say that newcomers don't understand why the history of the area makes it important to keep the diversity policy.

In another pair of 5-4 votes, the Wake County school board majority got the firm it wanted tonight for the superintendent search and gave initial approval to dropping requirements that the new schools chief be an educator.

The board hired Heidrick & Struggles to do the search at $82,500 plus expenses. It was the most expensive of the four firms that were interviewed by the board's superintendent search committee.

Hazard Young, Attea & Associates, who had been suggested by the minority members as an alternative to Heidrick & Struggles, offered to do it for $35,000. They also wanted $4,500 for consultant expenses.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR HANDOUTS FROM TUESDAY'S MEETING

It looks like Ron Margiotta will remain the chairman of the Wake County school board meeting after today's vote.

But will Margiotta run unopposed or face opposition from a member of the minority faction?

Margiotta would appear to be safe because he's got the backing of the other four majority members. Vice chairwoman Debra Goldman, who some minority members hoped might defect, said Monday the board needs to retain its current leadership.

UPDATE

Throughout Margiotta's speech, the crowd would say no or boo anything that praised the majority.

The Wake Education Partnership is offering today its analysis of the possibility of year-round magnet schools and removal of diversity from the student transfer policy.

In this week's issue of In Context, the WEP's weekly newsletter, the group mentions how the possibility of converting magnet schools to a multi-track year-round calendar has been proposed by school board chairman Ron Margiotta. The issue came up at last week's student assignment committee meeting.

Margiotta asked the committee to also consider converting magnet schools to year-round calendars in 2010-2012. He said the move would increase capacity, parental choice and educational opportunities.

The Rev. William Barber, head of the state NAACP, has laid out the group's prescription for improving student performance and why it says socioeconomic diversity must be supported.

During Monday's mass meeting, Barber listed "what it takes to have a high quality, constitutional school." Those things, presented the day before the Wake County school board eliminated diversity from the student assignment policy, are:

The Wake County school board is getting some good news from County Manager David Cooke.

In the face of deep cuts recommended to other parts of the county budget for the coming fiscal year, Cooke proposed today that the school system get $313.5 million. It's the same amount that the school system got last year and is exactly what the school board is officially asking for this time.

Now it's up to the county commissioners to see if they agree with Cooke's proposal or want to give more or less money to the school system. Historically, the commissioners don't give less in school funding than what the manager proposes.