You might have thought you were attended a 1960s civil rights protest instead of a Wake County school board meeting on Tuesday.

As noted in today's article, critics of the community-based school assignment resolution steeped their language and actions around themes that wouldn't have been out of place for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to have used.

The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, led many in the audience in singing "We Shall Overcome" during the meeting. Once the board recessed after the vote on the resolution, Barber led the crowd in "Don't Let Nobody Turn You 'Round," another civil rights anthem.

SEE END OF POST FOR UPDATE WITH LINK TO OPEN LETTER SENT BY BARBER TO WAKE SCHOOL BOARD CHAIRMAN RON MARGIOTTA. 

Barring any holdups, the school board should decide this week who will take Rosa Gill's vacant seat.

The plan is to meet from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday to interview all nine people who want to fill the District 4 opening caused by Gill's appointment to the state House. The board is slated to meet from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday to make a final selection.

The new board member would be sworn in on Aug. 18 and finish out Gill's term, which expires November 2011.

(The applications for all nine candidates are listed in this post.)

Lynette Aytch, a director in the state's Smart Start program, became the fourth person to apply for the vacant seat on the school board.

In the application submitted today, Aytch said her four policy priorities would be high quality preschool programs, specialized services for students with disabilities and special learning needs, classroom diversity and inclusion and community and families partnerships.

"The public school system has a social and educational responsibility to advance policy that promotes and sustains classroom diversity and inclusion," Aytch said in her application.

A third former educator, Samuel Greene, wants to fill the vacancy on the school board for the District 4 seat in Southeast Raleigh.

Greene, who spent 33 years as an educator and was a principal at West Millbrook Middle School in North Raleigh, submitted his application today. In addition to his professional experience, he cites his lengthy history of community service.

"As a Wake County Public School board member, I would exhibit a strong commitment to working with other board members towards the common goal of providing the best possible education for the children in our district," Greene writes in his application. "My entire professional career has been in the area of working with children, parents and the community."