As the Wake County school board meets today and tomorrow with the four semi-finalists for the superintendent's position, how much job security can be provided?

Since 2010, Wake has had two permanent and two interim superintendents leading the district. That's a lot of turnover even for a district as large as Wake County.

Depending on what happens to Senate Bill 325, the new superintendent would have at least a few years to make his or her mark.

The Wake County school board has picked four semi-finalists tonight for the position of superintendent.

The names are being kept secret. But school board chairman Keith Sutton said they’re all veteran educators who are currently serving in leadership positions in their respective school districts, ranging in size from 30,000 students to close to Wake’s size of 150,000 students.

“They’re all highly qualified, very capable of running the district,” Sutton said. “They stood out above the rest.”

Since there's already been discussion about it in one of the blog posts, I thought I'd create a separate one on this new YouTube video looking at the difference in offerings between Wake County magnet schools and non-magnet schools.

The video from Barbara Walters points to the large number of electives provided at magnet schools, particularly the GT and IB schools. She contrast it with the much smaller number of options at the non-magnet schools.

Walters charges that the disparity is the result of a deliberate "suppression" of options at non-magnet schools. Walters said the public should threaten to not support a school bond unless the school board develops an appropriate policy governing the relationship between magnet and non-magnet schools.

Historically, non-magnets in Wake have been restricted in what they can offer. Former Superintendent Tony Tata had been chipping away at those distinctions during his tenure.

For at least some Wake County school employees, there's a climate of fear and lack of trust that permeates the district.

As noted in today's article, a report summarizing feedback on the superintendent search revealed concerns about the school board and the work environment. Some of the commenters specifically blamed former Superintendent Tony Tata while others made comments that could be linked to him.

Obviously Tata was liked by some people, shown by the seven school district employees who chose to join him at the state Department of Transportation. But at least some of those who remained didn't like his new leadership style.

Here's a quick recap of tonight's Wake County school board superintendent search committee meeting.

Board members agreed that once they select the finalists, they'll make the names public and bring them in for community forums before the final vote is made. That's a departure from how the former board majority kept the search totally secret when Tony Tata was hired in 2010.

The board agreed to extend the application deadline, which would have ended at midnight, by a week so that a recruiter can talk to prospective applicants at this weekend's National School Boards Association's annual conference. As of 4 p.m., 19 applications had been received.

The board received a summary of feedback from the community meetings and online surveys conducted two weeks ago. While there were some positives, there were a lot of concerns raised about the board and about the work climate.

The Wake County legislative delegation should expect to hear more today from people opposing bills that would change how Wake County school board members are elected and take away their control of school construction.

WakeUP Wake County is urging people to show up again like they did at the March 25 public hearing. The new hearing takes place before the Wake school board will discuss during Tuesday's work session supporting the current election districts instead of going to the ones in S325, the school board election bill.

With WakeUP Wake, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition and the Wake County Democratic Party urging people to show up March 25 to oppose the school bills, you can guess what the turnout was like. Here are some of the comments from the March 25 hearing.

Susan Pullium, one of the senior staffers in the Wake Count school system's student assignment office, has become at least the seventh person from the school district hired by the state Department of Transportation.

State Transportation Secretary Tony Tata announced today that Pullium will be the DOT's director of strategic planning. Pulliam will oversee the Transportation Planning Branch and Performance Metrics Management Office as she works on developing a 25-year transportation infrastructure plan.

“Susan has overseen large-scale planning and community engagement efforts and understands the importance of collaboration,” said Tata, the former Wake school superintendent, in the press release. “She is a talented, innovative individual who will be a tremendous asset as we work with our business and community partners to develop a long-range transportation plan that boosts North Carolina’s economy.”

Transportation Secretary Tony Tata announced Monday that Susan Pullium, a student assignment administrator for the Wake County schools, will join him and at least six other former Wake school employees at NCDOT.

Pullium will become NCDOT's strategic planning director. She will work with Nick Tennyson, a former Durham mayor picked for a new position as NCDOT chief deputy secretary for support, on developing the state's long-range transportation infrastructure plan. She will be paid a salary of $88,084. At Wake schools, where Tata had worked as school superintendent for 20 months, Pullium served on a student assignment task force.

“Susan has overseen large-scale planning and community engagement efforts and understands the importance of collaboration,” Tata said in a news release. “She is a talented, innovative individual who will be a tremendous asset as we work with our business and community partners to develop a long-range transportation plan that boosts North Carolina’s economy.”

Transportation Secretary Tony Tata has endorsed a Senate proposal that probably would kill three turnpike projects in Currituck, New Hanover and Gaston counties.

If the measure becomes law, the state Department of Transportation will find itself authorized to continue work on only two toll roads: the 19.7-mile Monroe Connector / Bypass east of Charlotte, and the Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension, which would extend the 540 Outer Loop across southern Wake County from Holly Springs to I-40 near Garner.

State House leaders have not decided whether to go along with the Senate idea. The Senate added the provision three weeks ago, when it approved a House bill that began with a more limited scope. ... [MORE]

The Wake County Republican Party announced today that Tony Tata will be the keynote speaker at their convention on March 26.

Tata is still popular with many Republicans, as evidenced by being called "beloved to us as former Wake County School Superintendent" in today's issue of the Elephant Express. Tata, who some have speculated might seek elected office, is staying in the public eye as state Transportation Secretary.

"On Tuesday, we will have a fine convention; an inspiring keynote speech from General Tony Tata, a great public servant who has a great future ahead of him in our state," said outgoing Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant in the Elephant Express.

Tata will speak at 7 p.m. at the Kerr Scott Building. Ironically, that's the same time the Wake County school system will be holding a community forum to get feedback for its superintendent search.