Members of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition and other supporters of the Democratic school board majority turned their attention Monday on the Republican majority on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

During the public comment section, several speakers criticized the commissioners for asking for state legislation to take over ownership of schools, to be able to give money to help build charter schools and to change the way school board members are elected. It also came with a warning.

"I hope that the Wake County Commissioners don't want to radicalize lots of middle-class parents," said Robert Siegel. "But if you do start messing with our schools, we're going to respond the same way we responded to the extremist school board of 2009. I don't think you want Wake County to become a national disgrace again."

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is mobilizing to get the new Wake County student assignment plan to include the diversity-related assignments.

In an email message dated Sept. 12, GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon tells people that her discussions with school board members was "not encouraging." Brannon writes about a "board member who wants what we want but is too weak to push for it and too afraid to step up to the plate, because he is worried about community push back."

Brannon writes that "another board member who doesn’t seem to 'agree' about how to fix diversity-how to have balanced schools.....he seems to believe kids can choose out. After some discussion he agreed to 'think it over.'"

Members of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition accused Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata of scapegoating Don Haydon for the bus problems and said he's the one who should be relieved of his duties.

During the public comment session at Tuesday's school board meeting in which speakers were repeatedly warned not to discuss specific personnel, several GSIW members lamented the senior staff who've left Wake since Tata became superintendent.

Lynn Edmonds complained about Wake's longtime staff being replaced by people with no experience working in school systems. who come from the "free market or the corporate world," or being graduates from the Broad Superintendents Academy.

Twenty-five people, consisting mostly of critics of the choice plan, have signed up to speak at tonight's Wake County school board meeting.

Speakers include familiar names like Sally Wooten, Neil Riemann, Lynn Stellings, Ellen Nightingale, Lee Hogewood, Rhonda Curtright, Amy Lee, Peter Rumsey, Amy Womble and Lettice Rhodes. Jennifer Mansfield could be on the few speakers who object to the board adopting the student assignment directive.

Also on the list is Russell Capps, president of the Wake County Taxpayers Association. He's listed as presenting an appreciation statement to Superintendent Tony Tata.

UPDATE

The turnout is actually fairly mixed with the majority criticizing the choice plan but a large number, such as Rhonda Curtright, who say it shouldn't be discarded for a base plan now.

New Wake County school board member Susan Evans raised more than $40,000 in her successful bid to unseat incumbent Ron Margiotta,

In her final campaign report filed today, Evans reported raising $43,386.53 and spending $39.077.16. Margiotta hasn't filed his final report yet, but he had reported raising $52,748.31 as of Sept. 26.

But the funding gap between Evans, a Democrat, and Margiotta, a Republican, is a lot narrower considering all the outside money that was poured into the District 8 race.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo holds the clear fundraising lead for the District 3 seat.

New campaign reports filed this week show that Losurdo had raised $40,244.55 as of Sept. 26 with $9,522.60 on hand. School board member Kevin Hill reported raising $24,055 with $12,570.69 on hand. Jennifer Mansfield is well behind with $5,802.19 raised and $2,513.18 on hand.

Some of the disparity between Losurdo and Hill is mitigated by the spending that outside groups have put into the race attacking her.

Wake County school board candidate Susan Evans has reported raising $37,524.69 as of Sept. 26 with $21,770.23 on hand.

Evans' newest campaign report filed Friday shows she's still trailing school board chairman Ron Margiotta, who had already raised more than $40,000 by the end of August. But the gap might not be that big a deal considering how outside groups like Common Sense Matters and the N.C. Futures Action Fund are sending out mailers aiding her cause.

The biggest donors in Evans' latest report are the $3,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $2,000 from Lettice Rhodes.

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill and challenger Jennifer Mansfield lag far behind Heather Losurdo in the amount of cash raised so far in District.

The new report filed today by Hill shows he had raised $15,245 as of Aug. 30 with $12,123.69 at hand. Mansfield's new report has her with $3,582.19 raised as of Aug. 30 with $1,826.86 on hand.

Well out in front financially is Losurdo, who's raised $30,529.55 as of Aug. 30 with $11,801.85 on hand.

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta and Susan Evans are both pulling in substantial amounts of cash in the District 8 race, including money from the Popes, Bob Luddy and the Campbells.

The new campaign report filed today by Margiotta shows he had raised $40,367.33 as of Aug. 30 with $34,111.23 on hand. The new report for Evans shows she had raised $26,406.43 as of Aug. 30 with $21,405.30 on hand.

The biggest donors for Margiotta in his new report are the $4,000 apiece from conservative businessman Art Pope, his wife Katherine Pope and conservative businessman Bob Luddy.

There were no arrests but plenty of harsh words by critics of the Wake County school board majority on Tuesday.

For the first time since June 1, no one was arrested for disrupting a regular board meeting. Instead, most of the speakers during the public comment section lashed into the board majority over the elimination of the diversity policy and other issues.

For instance, Adrienne Lumpkin, past PTSA president of Enloe High School, blasted school board member John Tedesco for citing the 46 percent passing rate for elementary school kids living in the Southeast Raleigh/Enloe zone to blame busing for low student achievement. She said he was using one figure "to drawn an unfounded conclusion."