Look for some media coverage today of the Wake County school system's use of the mCLASS:Reading 3D assessment system.

Several state legislators, including former Wake County school board chairwoman Rosa Gill, are scheduled to see a demonstration today of how mClass:Reading 3D is used in a first-grade class at Timber Drive Elementary School in Garner.

All elementary schools in the state will use mClass as a reading diagnostic system in the 2013-14 school year as part of the Excellent Public Schools Act. Wake currently has 15 schools using the software program.

The goal is to help young students improve their literacy skills.

Shinica Thomas cites her many years of being involved in her children's schools and her passion for helping students learn with why she should be appointed to the District 1 seat on the Wake County school board.

In Thomas' application, she writes that she understands firsthand the need for family involvement having served for the past 10 years in school PTAs and booster groups for her two teenage sons. She's now the parent representative for Heritage High School on the District 1 Board Advisory Council.

"To say that I have a vested interest in this school system is putting it mildly," Thomas, 39, a Democrat from Wake Forest, writes. "It is important to me that community members are engaged in strong relationships and meaningful opportunities in our school system to help foster its success."

It looks like the Wake County school board should be prepared to see the General Assembly pass the legislative changes requested by county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, State Rep. Paul Stam of Apex, House Speaker pro tempore, said Wednesday he expects the GOP-led legislature to pass this year new laws that would allow Wake County commissioners to take over ownership of schools and to require that some Wake school board seats be elected on a countywide basis.

Stam also said he’s expecting a bill to pass this year that would allow all counties to help charter schools build their facilities.

The start of the Keith Sutton era as Wake County school board chairman is expected to begin Tuesday.

The board will hold an organizational meeting on Tuesday to select a chair and vice chair for the next year. Sutton, the board's vice chairman, said that Kevin Hill has told him he won't seek another term as board chairman.

While Sutton won't outright say he's running for chairman, it's pretty clear if you read between the lines.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

The reactions from Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday night to the Wake County school board election results was about as different as you could get.

As noted today in this article and this article, Democrats were hailing the results as a step forward. Republicans who face four years of being in the minority were warning about a return to the days of forced busing and possibly even Superintendent Tony Tata leaving.

Speaking to reporters after the results came in, GOP board vice chairman John Tedesco said he hopes the new board majority won't try to rehash old battles.

Will Venita Peyton challenge Wake County school board member Keith Sutton for the District 4 seat?

Peyton, a real estate broker and community activist, said Tuesday that she's still mulling whether to compete for the seat that covers Southeast Raleigh. She has until Aug. 12 to file.

Cash Michaels speculated on a possible Peyton candidacy in an analysis piece last week in The Carolinian. Michaels is not a fan of Peyton, an African American Republican who has frequently criticized the old diversity policy and praised the new board majority on her Outside the Box blog.

Things definitely got heated at Wednesday night's forum looking into allegations of racial discrimination by the Wake County school system.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, speakers used terms like "white supremacy" and going "back to the back of the bus" to describe the move toward neighborhood schools in Wake.

“They are being introduced to blatant white supremacy in the Wake County school system,” said parent Darryl Fulton about what his four children are facing with the end of the diversity policy.

Gov. Bev Perdue and several other Democratic Party leaders are scheduled to attend a Thursday fundraiser in Raleigh for a group that's hoping to wrest control of the Wake County school board away from the Republican majority.

The stated goal of the fundraiser for the Wake Citizens for Good Government PAC is to benefit Wake school board candidates "who support high quality public schools for all children." The PAC was formed in 2009 and unsuccessfully ran a television attack ad against Republican-backed school board candidates.

The PAC was formed by Dean Debnam, president of the Democratic-leaning polling firm of Public Policy Polling. PPP has recently conducted surveys on Wake school issues for what the firm says is a private client.

It looks like the Wake County school board's budget could go back to getting greater scrutiny from the board of commissioners.

As noted in an article today in the Raleigh Public Record, Tony Gurley, chairman of the board of commissioners, wants to bring back the "purpose and function" budgeting requirements for the school system. Gurley says that school board chairman Ron Margiotta agrees with the idea, which would be a major change from how prior boards viewed the requirement.

Under purpose and function, the school system budgeted the amount it received from the county into several broad categories. The school system had to get the approval of commissioners if it changed any of the categories by more than 15 percent.

Dan Coleman, president of the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, is speaking out against the old Wake County socioeconomic diversity policy.

As noted in today's article, Coleman's public criticism of the diversity policy is putting him at odds with the rest of the leadership of the local African American community. But Coleman said the test data shows that the diversity policy hasn't helped Southeast Raleigh students.

The passing rate on state reading exams for Southeast Raleigh students was 46.7 percent in elementary schools and 48.6 percent in middle schools. None of the other zones in the plan being considered by the board had passing rates below 60 percent.