The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, is at today's Wake County school board meeting.

Barber had been barred from attending school board meetings as a result of his arrest on trespassing charges at board meetings in 2010. Barber pleaded guilty to the charges on Friday as part of a plea deal that will allow him to get the charges dismissed if he performs 40 hours of community service over the next six months.

It's unclear whether Barber has permission to be at the meeting since the District Attorney's Office said the trespassing notice is still technically in effect until the charges are dismissed. But the board could have opted on its own to waive the trespass notices.

Even before the charges were adjudicated, Barber and other protesters could attend board meetings if they submitted a letter in writing saying they promised to follow board rules. They didn't exercise that option before.

UPDATE

The Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Raleigh's Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, and Middle Creek High student Seth Keel are also at the meeting. They had also been trespassed and pleaded guilty Friday.

Barber said the trespass notices ended once they pleaded guilty. He said he and ther others will be reglarly back at the board meetings to monitor things.

Barber, Petty and Keel are getting hugged and congratulated by members of the audience.

If the idea of prosecution is to deter people from committing an offense again, it doesn't look like that's happening for at least some of the people who pleaded guilty on Friday to disrupting Wake County school board meetings in 2010.

As noted in today's article, protesters who spoke to the media after entering guilty pleas were defiant. They said they were proud of their actions and would be prepared to be arrested again if they don't like how the new school board or future boards are acting.

"We now are able to go back to the school board to speak again," said the Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. "And if we sense that they're  headed off as the old board did, we will follow our conscience again and we will do what is necessary to protect our children and to keep our community involved in this conversation."

Here's a quick recap from today's court proceedings in which 21 people pleaded guilty to disrupting Wake County school board meetings in 2010.

The protesters will perform 40 hours of community service such as working in food banks and soup kitchens and pay $430 in fees. If they complete the work in the next six months, the charges will be dismissed. They can ask to have the charges expunged.

Although he entered a guilty plea, the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, still remained defiant. He pointed to last fall's school board elections as a sign they were doing what was right.

"We’re guilty of standing up for righteousness,” Barber said at a press conference where he was joined by the Rev. Nancy Petty, the Rev. Curtis Gatewood and Dante Strobino.

It looks like the closing chapter of the Wake County school board protests could begin on Friday.

As many as 19 of the 30 people arrested for protesting at school board meetings in 2010 are expected to enter guilty pleas under the first-offender program. Among the group who will plead guilty are the Rev. Nancy Petty and Tim Tyson.

I don't know whether the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, will be entering a guilty plea.

Unless the judge says no, the protesters would plead guilty and agree to perform a minimum number of hours of community service. If they perform the work within a specified time period, the charges would be dismissed. The protesters could then also ask to have the charges expunged from their records.

It looks like the 30 protesters who were arrested at Wake County school board meetings in 2010 will finally be going to court.

Court dates have been scheduled for four Fridays between March 2 and April 13. Prosecutors grouped the court dates for the defendants based on when they were arrested.

This means the people arrested in March and June 2010 will be in court March 2. This group includes the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP; the Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Tim Tyson, a Duke University historian and author; and Dante Strobino, co-founder of the self-described socialist group Raleigh FIST.

Former Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta says protesters arrested for disrupting school board meetings don't deserve leniency for "reprehensible behavior" that "threatened" public safety and "deliberately created chaos and fear."

In a letter to the editor Sunday, Margiotta contrasts the people who were arrested with those who were not during the last two years. He writes the board "tolerated" the "rude and disrespectful" behavior of people who were "cheering and jeering" and "simply refused to maintain civility and adhere to proper decorum."

But Margiotta writes that the protesters who were arrested went beyond simple acts of civil disobedience or disruption. He charges those protesters used "extreme and intimidating tactics."

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR RESPONSE FROM STATE NAACP

Should Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby prosecute the 30 people charged with disrupting school board meetings last year, seek mediation or drop the charges?

As noted in today's article, the outgoing Wake County school board called a  last-minute closed session meeting last week in which it agreed to rescind its prior authorization to seek mediation.

"We decided against mediation," said former school board chairman Ron Margiotta of the Dec. 1 meeting. "We wanted a court trial. We wanted to see them stand trial for their actions."

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

If Democrats sweep the five Wake County school board seats to retake the majority today, it would arguably be due to the efforts of the 501 and 527 groups to link the Republicans to the Tea Party.

A steady stream of mailers, websites and skunk-wearing mascots from these Democrat-leaning groups has been pushing the message of a "Tea Party takeover of Wake County Schools." Democrats insist it's a powerful message while Republicans say the fears about the Tea Party are overblown.

"I'm confident that the average resident of Wake County has a negative view of the Tea Party in the United States," said Mack Paul, chairman of the Wake County Democratic Party.

Don't directly look for the results of the new Wake County school election poll being conducted by Public Policy Polling.

PPP was polling people across the county on Thursday with questions on topics such as the elections, student assignment and the performance of Superintendent Tony Tata. But PPP isn't releasing the results because it says it's a private poll.

PPP does a lot of work for Democratic groups and candidates. Plus, PPP President Dean Debnam founded the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC that could try again to sway the election against Republican school board candidates.

We've got more squabbling between Republicans and Democrats about this fall's Wake County school board elections.

In the latest issue of the Elephant Express, Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant responds today to the Wake County Democratic Party's blast at last week's edition. Democrats had called last week's attack by Bryant as focusing on "two year old debates regarding student assignment" instead of discussing the board majority's record.

"We will stand on our record of the past 2 years – show us yours!" Bryant fired back at Democrats today. "Also, since the Democrats are so eager to move on to other issues, let us remind you:  Not so fast - the work to change the student assignment process is still not done. Here is a lesson for all: If you want quality, you have to finish what you start."