It's not an understatement to say that internal Wake County school board emails showed a lot of suspicion in regard to how the student assignment plan review process has played out.

On the Democratic side, you have board member Jim Martin expressing suspicion that staff was trying to discourage them from changing the plan. On the Republican side, you have several board members expressing suspicion that the Democrats were moving to delay the plan.

You have Democratic school board chairman Kevin Hill trying to reassure both sides.

A total of 26 people have pre-registered to speak at Broughton High School at today's Wake County school board public hearing on the student assignment plan.

A number of the usual people who've criticized the school board majority over the past two years are on the list, including Neil Riemann, Rhonda Curtright,  Patty Williams, Greg Flynn, Heather Koons, Tom Rhodes and Amy Lee. One person also on the list is Seth Keel.

I haven't received word yet on whether Keel, who is still banned at showing up at school board meetings following his arrest, will be allowed to speak today. It will be interesting seeing whether Keel, the Rev. William Barber and all the other people who've been barred from attending board meetings will be allowed back if the Democrats regain the board majority.

Over the past two years, some speakers have railed against the board majority for leaving the ban in place. Their trespassing cases still haven't been adjudicated yet.

UPDATE

Keel is not being allowed to speak at the meeting over the objections of him and his supporters.

BigggerPicture4Wake announced tonight which Wake County school board candidates it prefers this year.

In the press release, the group says they're supporting Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5, Christine Kushner in District 6 and Susan Evans in District 8. It's the same list being backed by the Wake County Democratic Party, Wake NCAE and The Independent weekly.

BiggerPicture says it believes those four candidates "will foster an atmosphere of productive debate and sound decisions for Wake County schools." They have questionnaires from several of the candidates on their website.

Eight letters on Wake County schools: magnet money, William Barber, tolerance and more.

BiggerPicture4Wake is calling last week's vote to convert Leesville Road elementary and middle schools back to a traditional calendar the Wake County school board majority's "third strike."

In a press release Monday, BiggerPicture says the first two strikes were eliminating the weekly Wednesday early dismissals and abandoning the Forest Ridge High site. The group says that the board majority is fulfilling campaign promises but ignoring data with decisions like abandoning the year-round calendar at Leesville.

"Now, the public needs to call them out to avoid further damage to Wake’s school system,” said Rhonda Curtright, BiggerPicture co-founder, in the press release.

BiggerPicture4Wake is joining Wake NCAE in backing the same set of candidates who would support current school board policies.

In a press release today, BiggerPicture announced it was endorsing Rita Rakestraw in District 1, Horace Tart in District 2, Karen Simon in District 7 and Lois Nixon in District 9. The group said "it is critical that we build upon the past 30 years of progress in Wake County; not undo it by instituting an anti-diversity policy."

BiggerPicture formed last fall to support conversion of Leesvile Road Middle to a year-round calendar. On the flip side, Concerned and Committed Leesville Parents has backed conversion opponent Deborah Prickett in District 7.