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.

It looks like protesters were wrong if they were hoping that the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board would be more sympathetic that the Republicans were on the issue of mediation instead of prosecution.

As noted in today's article, the school board met in closed session last week and agreed to stick with the decision made by the former majority to recommend that the protesters who disrupted board meetings in 2010 go to trial.

Since it was discussed in closed session, neither the board members or board attorney Ann Majestic are saying why the board decided not to go with mediation.

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

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.

Seth Keel wants to go from being arrested for protesting the end of the diversity policy at Wake County school board meetings to being Raleigh's next mayor.

Keel announced today that he's running for mayor in part because "the Mayor and City Council should be standing up to the school board and the state legislature, fighting for the rights of all students to be provided a quality education." Legally, there's a question whether the 17-year-old Middle Creek High School student is old enough to run.

The N.C. HEAT member has made a name for himself over the past year.

Should the Wake County school system continue to limit access to school board meetings to the nearly 30 protesters who were arrested last year?

Middle Creek High student Seth Keel and his fellow N.C. HEAT members argued against the restrictions during Tuesday's school board meeting. They insisted the board should listen to any of the arrested protesters who wanted to speak at the meetings.

Here's how it unfolded Tuesday.

Raleigh Police escorted out of today's Wake County school board meeting a high school student who was barred from attending because of a previous arrest for disrupting a board meeting.

Seth Keel, 16, a Middle Creek High School student and member of the youth group, N.C. HEAT, demanded the right to speak at the board meeting. But he was escorted out because he had been arrested on second-degree trespassing charges for refusing to give up the podium at an August school board meeting.

Keel, along with the nearly 30 people who've been arrested for disrupting school board meetings to protest the elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity in student assignment, has been barred from attending school board meetings. The people who've been arrested can only attend board meetings if they request permission in advance and agree not to be disruptive.

Education Week is checking in on the Wake County school diversity fight as part of its weekly focus on a school district.

Today's article focuses on the school board's decision to have Superintendent Tony Tata review the Wake School Choice Plan as part of his efforts to develop a new long-term student assignment plan. The article calls the decision a step "that may turn down the temperature of the intense debate."

Going forward on the blog, I'm just going to call the proposal from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership the Wake School Choice Plan.

New Wake County Superintendent Anthony Tata will get a "welcoming party" from some of the same protesters who've targeted school board meetings over the past year.

As noted in today's article, protesters plan to be outside the Barbecue Lodge on Thursday night when Tata speaks to the Wake County Taxpayers Association during his tour of the area. The organizers for the event's Facebook page are Monserrat Alvarez, a leader of N.C. HEAT; and Seth Keel, a Middle Creek High teen arrested earlier this year at a school board meeting.

"Anthony Tata was named the new Superintendent of the WCPSS," says the event website. "Join us as we voice our opposition to this decision at his first public appearance in which he meets with the conservative group: Wake County Taxpayers Association."

The Wake County school board majority was essentially equated by diversity policy supporters to be demon possessed at this evening's prayer vigil at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh.

The Rev. Earl Johnson, pastor of Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh, asked the dozen clergy members in the audience to set aside one Sunday service in September for prayer. He urged them to pray for schools,  diversity in schools, student achievement and...

"Pray that this demonic presence that is trying to take over the school system will not prevail," Johnson said.