The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is arguably taking out of context some of the criticisms leveled against the Wake County school system.

In a press release today, GSIW says that private school supporters are calling the school system "unpopular" and a "failure." It says these remarks "appears part of an orchestrated plan to discredit and undermine the award-winning Wake County Public School System."

“The public schools are the crown jewel of our local economy. We should be advocating for them—not condemning them,” said Yevonne Brannon, GSIW Chairwoman in the press release. “It is an insult to the intelligence of our educators and students when we suggest that one of the top school districts in the nation is a failure. If our schools are so bad, then why have they been held up as a national model of success?”

Here are some assorted issues raised in the NC SPIN show on Wake County's school diversity fight.

Was the socioeconomic diversity unpopular with the public, as maintained by John Hood, president of the conservative John Locke Foundation? He pointed to the higher turnout at last fall's elections and the unfavorable poll results from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling and the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute.

"The policy that the Wake County school board adopted a decade ago has never been popular," Hood said. "It has always been unpopular."

It looks like the discussion was lively Thursday night when John Tedesco and the Rev. William Barber taped their debate for NC SPIN.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, both men got into some heated exchanges about the direction of the Wake County school system and the elimination of the diversity policy. Both men held to their positions.

"You are fixing something that isn't broken," said Barber, president of the state NAACP.

UPDATE

Click here to view the show online.

Wake County school board member John Tedesco and the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, are going to get more television time to debate diversity in the state's largest school district.

NC SPIN announced today that Barber and Tedesco will appear on a special edition of the show that will be broadcast Aug. 15. In addition to Barber and Tedesco, regular panelists John Hood and Chris Fitzsimon will also be on the show that will be moderated by Tom Campbell.

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta said he's not anticipating any last-minute additions to Tuesday's meeting agenda.

The inclusion of eight items at the board table on Dec. 1 without advance notice to all board members drew complaints from critics of the new majority. Normally, agenda items are added no later than 48 hours before a meeting.

The school board election results will be discussed on this Sunday's edition of NC Spin.

The first topic on Sunday's television show is "Wake's wake-up election." The discussion from the usual panelists, such as Chris Fitzsimon and John Hood, should make for some different perspectives on the election.

Tom Campbell, the host of NC Spin, ventured into the issue with a column in Sunday's Charlotte Observer in which he wondered if the election results "was the beginning of a voter revolution in our state or simply the repudiation of current school policies and leaders?"

"When public officials aren't responsive, act arrogantly or don't convince citizens of the rightness of their positions, the people withdraw their consent through their votes, and that was exactly what happened Tuesday," Campbell writes.