There are some interesting new post-election consequences for the Wake County school board.

As noted in today's article, board member Chris Malone says he's waiting until Lori Millberg concedes the state House 35 race before resigning his seat. Malone is also deciding not to respond to the 2010 police report and board member Debra Goldman's repeated public statements that his remarks about having a heated relationship with her are untrue.

You've also got board member John Tedesco now contemplating not seeking reelection next year after going through his life savings in his bid to become state schools superintendent.

John Tedesco, the Republican nominee for state Schools Superintendent, is denying it was inappropriate for him to have taken campaign contributions from officers of a company that does business with the Wake County school system.

At last week's Wake school board meeting, Democratic activist Greg Flynn accused Tedesco, a Wake school board member since 2009, of a "breach of trust" for having taken the donations and voted for the contract with the company.

Tedesco said today that "we don't believe we did anything wrong" when his campaign accepted around $275 in campaign contributions from those people. But Tedesco said he'd be willing to return the money if he got legal advice that it was inappropriate for him to keep the "nominal amount."

Wake County school board member John Tedesco is called "statesmanlike" in this week's issue of the liberal Independent weekly.

This article by Bob Geary notes Tedesco's willingness to reach out to the Democratic school board members for compromises on issues such as student assignment. Geary also writes that "around here, Tedesco is viewed as a conservative ideologue," but he's being called too moderate by his opponent for the Republican nomination for state schools superintendent.

"While Tedesco is poison for many Democrats, he's also the only Republican school board member who regularly communicates with any of the five Democrats who now constitute the new board majority, after two years of Republican control," Geary writes.

Email records show a high degree of behind-the-scenes tension during the first two months of the new Wake County school board.

Board members were complaining about each other and staff in the email exchanges. The emails, part of a public records request, covered messages sent by board members to each other and to Superintendent Tony Tata between Dec. 6-Jan. 25.

I'm off the rest of the week and won't be updating the blog or responding to questions. But I'm sure you guys will be kept busy by reading and commenting on the emails.

The liberal N.C. Policy Watch is accusing conservatives of giving John Tedesco a do-nothing job so that he can pay his bills while serving on the Wake County school board.

In a Progressive Pulse blog post today, Rob Schofield marks the sixth anniversary of when it was announced that Tedesco would be president and CEO of the newly formed N.C. Center for Education Reform. Schofield contends that the group, which Tedesco has said is still getting set up, has done nothing.

"And here are the words that most accurately convey the evident substantive output of the group that employs Tedesco at $6,000 per month (at least from a pretty thorough review of the group’s website): Zilch. Nada. Bupkis," Schofield writes.

What message, if any, can you draw from the lack of activity on the website for the education group run by Wake County school board vice chairman John Tedesco?

In a blog post today for the liberal N.C. Policy Watch, Rob Schofield speculates on the lack of updates for the N.C. Center for Education Reform's website. He writes that "the group’s public output has been a big, fat zero."

"One has to wonder what the group’s founders and funders are thinking – if anything," Schofield writes. "Is it: 'What the heck is going on here?' or 'Our plan of providing a convenient cover so that conservatives can pay Tedesco to be on the school board is working out just fine!"

Tedesco responded to the N&O today that the website hasn't been updated yet because he's been busy getting the new non-profit started up. He said he has been working on several education initiatives.

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.

Newly engaged Wake County school board member John Tedesco talked about his job today as president of the new N.C. Center for Education Reform.

During an interview today on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Tedesco talked about the need to bring the community together to reform the public schools that he said are "failing" "vulnerable children." He brought up issues such as the dropout rate, the many high school graduates who need remedial help at community colleges and the gap in reading proficiency rates at the early grades.

"While I support choice I'm going to choose to try and champion and reform our traditional public schools so that they can better serve our kids here in North Carolina," Tedesco said.

Wake County school board member John Tedesco has landed on his feet as president of the newly formed N.C. Center for Education Reform.

The center announced today that Tedesco would lead the group in its mission to "transform" the state's public schools, which it says "need a revolution." The group says it wants to address areas such as the dropout rate, the school-to-prison pipeline and how many graduates need remediation at community colleges.

“We proudly welcome Mr. John Tedesco to lead our efforts at NCCER as a non-partisan not-for-profit organization committed to producing measurable results for all students in North Carolina,” according to the group’s press release. “His expertise and passion in education, non_profit management and development will serve as a spark to create a powerful transformation of education in North Carolina.”

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST