Officially, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition has been silent about the firing last week of Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata.

But individually, GSIW members have been writing letters to the editor praising the Democratic school board majority's decision to fire Tata. Click here, here and here for examples of letters to the editor written by GSIW members such as Karey Harwood, Sharon Eckard, Swain Wood, Heather Koons and Adrienne Lumpkin.

One piece was written by GSIW member Jason Langberg, an attorney for Advocates for Children's Services. His piece appeared Friday on the website of Parents Across America, a national group that supports diversity and opposes the expansion of high-stakes testing and charter schools.

UPDATE

Swain Wood says he's not a member of Great Schools. He's on Yevonne Brannon's email action list and is the husband of GSIW activist Karey Harwood. He worked on board member Susan Evans' campaign last fall and was the lead attorney in the Open Meetings lawsuit filed against the school board in 2010.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is mobilizing to get the new Wake County student assignment plan to include the diversity-related assignments.

In an email message dated Sept. 12, GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon tells people that her discussions with school board members was "not encouraging." Brannon writes about a "board member who wants what we want but is too weak to push for it and too afraid to step up to the plate, because he is worried about community push back."

Brannon writes that "another board member who doesn’t seem to 'agree' about how to fix diversity-how to have balanced schools.....he seems to believe kids can choose out. After some discussion he agreed to 'think it over.'"

The fireworks from Wednesday's Wake County school board candidate forum in District 3 came from Jennifer Mansfield.

As noted in today's article, Mansfield went after incumbent board member Kevin Hill on several occasions. Hill, Heather Losurdo and Eric Squires didn't criticize other candidates during the forum.

“He’s stonewalled and been very obstructionist in trying to get any positive changes made in the system,” Mansfield said of Hill.

Supporters of the old Wake County diversity policy are urging the school system to slow down the pace for adopting a new student assignment plan.

In an op-ed piece today, Great Schools in Wake Coalition members Sharon Eckard and Amy Lee argue that there are too many questions unanswered right now for the school board to vote on a plan. But much of the criticism in the piece focuses on the blue plan while both writers argue that it would be "easier" to support a modified green plan.

"Let's slow down the pace and analyze the options with rigor and appropriate details," Eckard and Lee write. "There is much more at stake in these plans than 'Where will my child go to school?' These plans will affect all Wake County residents through the real estate market, school taxes, the ability to cost-effectively attract high-performing teachers and the allocation of money among schools."

New Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata got a first-hand look Tuesday at what school board meetings will be like, from emotional public speakers to bickering by board members.

Most of the 39 speakers who signed up railed against the school board over the student reassignment plan and the elimination of the use of socioeconomic diversity. Some speakers got even more personal, particularly  directing their attacks at school board member John Tedesco.

Several speakers welcomed Tata. But Tata was also warned by speakers to restore diversity or else he and the school district would face dire consequences.