The State Board of Elections is investigating whether this anonymous flier that attacks five Democratic-backed Wake County school board candidates and links them to the NAACP violates campaign laws.

The flier criticizes National NAACP President Ben Jealous and state NAACP President the Rev. William Barber for opposing the elimination of the diversity policy. The flier accuses the five Democratic school board members of being the NAACP’s “liberal allies” and urges people to “vote no” on them.

“We MUST vote to keep these five radicals away from our children,” the flier says.

Wake County school board candidate Donna Williams probably isn't going to win over Enloe High School supporters based on her talk of spreading programs around.

Williams hit the local conservative radio talk show circuit this week starting as a guest co-host Tuesday on The Morning Show on WRDU. She touched on Enloe during an interview Wednesday on The Rick and Donna Martinez Show on WPTF, where she also said it's not a case of the school system needing more money to raise achievement.

"I believe we need a more fair and equitable balance in our schools," Williams said on WPTF. "I'll give you an example. Enloe High School right now has 142 magnet programs in that one school. And then we have a lot of schools in this county that have zero. I just think we need to take a look at that and if we balanced it out a lot better, it would then affect and help all of our children."

UPDATE I will now be back on Wednesday.

Donna Williams, a Republican activist and opponent of the old diversity policy, filed today to run for the District 6 seat on the Wake County school board.

Williams is the founding president of the Northern Wake Republican Club, a group that campaigned for and backed the GOP school board majority that took office in December 2009.

Christine Kushner and George W. Morgan, both Democrats, have already filed to run for the District 6 seat.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR HER CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT

The Wake County Republican Party is invoking "Wacky Wednesdays," school on Memorial Day and "forced busing" to mobilize their supporters in this fall's school board elections.

In this week's issue of the Elephant Express, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant argues that the "high ground" for a better education system rests with the Republican majority on the school board. In contrast, Bryant claims that the Democrats "just want to go back to the way things were!"

"Back to Forced Busing, Wacky Wednesdays, Children forced to attend school on Memorial Day," Bryant writes of what she says Democrats would do. "Back to NOT listening to parents!!!"

UPDATE

See end of post for response from the Wake County Democratic Party.

Before I start my vacation, here's a statement that the state NAACP released today about Thursday's meeting with Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.

Follow-Up Statement from Meeting with Superintendent Anthony Tata

The NAACP Meets with Superintendent Tata to Continue Discussion on the Important Connections Between Socio-Economic Diversity, Resources and Student Achievement

Here's a quick recap of today's meeting between Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata and the leadership of the state NAACP.

NAACP leaders said they're not convinced that the new choice plan will avoid the creation of more racially identifiable high poverty schools. They said they reserve the right to take further action if they feel the finished product violates Brown v. Board or Leandro.

One of the frequent complaints today from the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, is school board chairman Ron Margiotta's questioning setting aside too many achievement choice seats. Barber accused Margiotta of blindly following his neighborhood schools ideology and handicapping Tata's efforts.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Today's meeting between Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata and the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, could be hot in more ways than one.

Tentatively, the school system plans to hold the 10 a.m. private meeting in the school board conference room. The room's air-conditioning unit is partially down and the school system hadn't been planning to repair it because the relocation of Central Office to Cary is slated for August.

Keep this mind for Tuesday's work session, where it could get uncomfortable in the board conference room.

Today's topics are expected to include the new student assignment plan, minority teacher and principal recruitment and community outreach.

UPDATE

Wake says that the AC for the board conference room has been fixed and that they're still making individual maintenance repairs at Wake Forest Road before the move.

The NAACP has scheduled a noon press conference in front of Central Office to talk about the meeting.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata touched on a wide range of topics today at his press conference and his Virtual Town Hall forum.

Tata defended efforts to recruit more minority teachers as being the best way to ensure Wake is reaching out to all the qualified applicants. He also said Wake's graduation rate has increased overall and among African American, Hispanic and Caucasian students.

Tata also said state test results are up for elementary school students, slightly down for middle school and unchanged at high school.

This isn't specifically a Wake County item, but it could still have ramifications on how things move forward in the school district in the post-socioeconomic diversity era.

New data released today by the U.S. Department of Education show wide gaps still exist in what's offered to low-income and minority students in school districts across the country. For instance, the data show schools serving mostly African-American students are twice as likely to have teachers with one or two years of experience than are schools within the same district that serve mostly white students.
   
The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) project is overseen by DOE's Office for Civil Rights, the same group that's investigating the Title VI complaint that the NAACP filed against Wake.

"Despite the best efforts of America's educators to bring greater equity to our schools, too many children—especially low-income and minority children—are still denied the educational opportunities they need to succeed," said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali in the press release. "Transparency is the first step toward reform and for districts that want to do the right thing, the CRDC is an incredible source of information that shows them where they can improve and how to get better."

UPDATE

ProPublica has set up a website where you can compare individual schools, school districts and states.

Cash Michaels is not a happy camper about Wake County's move toward a controlled-choice plan that stresses proximity.

In an analysis piece in the latest issue of The Carolinian, Michaels calls the new plan "the change that no one who embraced the heralded and productive socioeconomic student diversity policy ever wanted to see - Wake County Public Schools, moving as far away as possible from the old mission - making sure that no child was trapped in an unhealthy school."

Also in the piece, Michaels champions the call for Democrats to regain the school board majority, criticizes school board vice chairman John Tedesco for his new job at the N.C. Center for Education Reform and takes Superintendent Tony Tata to task for his letter to the state NAACP.

UPDATE

Click here to view Michaels' response to criticsm of his article.