The "Grade Doctor" won't be making any house calls to Wake County.

As noted in today's article, school administrators have broken off contract negotiations with education consultant Ken O'Connor, who calls himself "The Grade Doctor." Administrators had been hoping to hire him to speak with teachers as part of the district's review of middle school and high school grading practices.

At a cost of as much as $6,000 a day for up to eight days, the contract negotiations had become controversial.

It looks like staff managed to defuse concerns school board members had about potential changes to grading practices.

As noted in today's article, staff explained to board members that they plan on bringing in parents, students and possibly the business community into the review that teachers are conducting of grading in middle schools and high schools.

Even though they want to hire education consultant Ken O'Connor, they stressed they're not telling teachers they need to adopt recommendations such as not reducing grades for late work or cheating. They said they're simply trying to get teachers talking about the issue.