Former Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo sent an email message this morning to school board members urging them not to fire Superintendent Tony Tata.

Losurdo, who warned during her campaign against incumbent Kevin Hill that electing him would result in Tata's dismisal, said the firing "will only bring more animocity and upheaval in our community."

Here's the email:

It looks like Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata could be out of a job this afternoon.

All four Republican board members voted to add the personnel item to the agenda after opposing it yesterday. Republicans said they still opposed what would be voted on.

"We need to get this out of closed session and share with the public what is happening," said GOP board member Debra Goldman, before the unanimous vote to amenda the agenda.

Democrats rejected a motion from Goldman to add a public comment session to the meeting. The board is now meeting in closed session before returning for a vote.

Without explicitly saying that Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata's job is in jeopardy, school board member John Tedesco pretty much made it clear that's what is happening.

In an interview Monday afternoon on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Tedesco said he can't comment on specifically what was discussed at Monday's closed session because it's a personnel issue. But he added "people can infer what they want at that point but unfortunately I can't comment any further although I'm sure I would like to."

LuMaye asked whether any of the Republican board members would provide the vote needed for Tuesday's (today's) meeting to add it to the agenda as opposed to waiting until next Tuesday's meeting when the Democrats only need a simple majority.

Will a likely one-week delay in the vote to fire Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata give enough time for his supporters to save his job?

As noted in today's article, it's really unlikely that any of the Republicans will agree today to amend the agenda to give the two-thirds majority needed to vote on Tata. This means the next time the board could act would be next Tuesday, when the Democrats would only need a simple majority.

Harvey Schmitt, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, said he was disappointed about the discussions of Tata’s departure He said that he has expressed concern to board chairman Kevin Hill and vice chairman Keith Sutton.

It looks like Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata could be out of a job by next Tuesday.

After 3 1/2 hours in closed session today, the board came out into open session with Democrats trying to add a "confidential personnel item" to the agenda. While no one said what it was, Republicans roundly criticized the effort to vote today.

It required a two-thirds majority to get on the agenda today so it failed by a 5-4 party line vote. The Democrats voted 5-4 to recess the meeting until 3 p.m.  tomorrow.

It would again take a two-thirds vote tomorrow to potentially vote on firing Tata. But Democratic board chairman Kevin Hill could simply add it to the Oct. 2 meeting agenda, which is why GOP board member Chris Malone considered voting for it today to get it over with rather than stringing things out a week.

UPDATE

Click here for the online story.

The Democratic majority on the Wake County school board voted down, along party lines, a motion to discuss Superintendent Tony Tata's job performance in open session.

Thomas Goldsmith, who is out at the meeting, is reporting that Republican board member Deborah Prickett made the motion to make public the ongoing discussions on Tata. It was voted down 5-4, paving the way to go into closed session.

"I completely oppose a closed session," Prickett said.

UPDATE

The meeting was originally scheduled to end at 3 p.m. but it's gone well past that time. A cardboard box labeled "Fritos" was taken inside the board conference room, presmably for them to munch on.

The Wake County school system announced this morning that a new centralized Transportation Customer Service Center has been established to handle phone calls about bus issues.

Calls that were previously made to the 15 individual transportation districts will now automatically be forwarded to the new central center, which can be reached at (919) 856-7890. A live rep will be available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays with people being able to leave a voice mail with their contact info afterhours.

Wake says the new center means customer service reps "will be better equipped to provide timely information on mechanical failures and other delays, and to contribute to more timely resolution of transportation-related issues."  Wake also says the new center will have "significantly increased voice mail capacity," a nod to how parents encountered full mailboxes when they called about their problems during the first month of school.

Superintendent Tony Tata has taken over the job of overseeing transportation since Don Haydon resigned last week as chief of facilities and operations.

Some potentially big things could happen today in the Wake County school system.

First, you've got people rally who will rally outside this afternoon's school board closed-session meeting because of rumors that Superintendent Tony Tata's job is in jeopardy. The board could take action or just adjourn after the closed session with nothing announced.

The other event today is the 20th-day of traditional-calendar schools. Using today's enrollment, along with earlier Day 20-figures for the modified-calendar schools and the four different year-round tracks, Wake will determine its official enrollment for the school year.

Add the Wake County Republican Party to those acting on the rumors that the Wake County school board could fire Superintendent Tony Tata on Monday.

In the latest edition of the Elephant Express sent today, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant is warning that "the radical extremists who have taken over the Wake County School Board are preparing to fire our great Superintendent Tony Tata, and we have to do everything we can to stop them." She says she'll lead the Wake GOP in opposing next year's likely school bond issue if Tata is fired.

Bryant is charging that board members Susan Evans and Jim Martin are the ones out to get Tata. She urges people to contact the board members to support Tata and to also show up outside Monday's school board meeting.

Wake County Commissioner Phil Matthews is urging people to show up at Monday's school board meeting to rally behind Superintendent Tony Tata.

"Attention Everyone!!" Matthews posted today on his Facebook page. "Rumor is the new liberal school board members are going to try to terminate Superintendent Tony Tata on Monday at their 12:30 at a closed session! They are using a lame excuse about buses to get rid of him. Everyone needs to show up at the meeting in Cary to show their support.

He is a good friend, and is doing an outstanding job. I will take his firing personally so I am now "on record"!! Pass this on to everyone you know and contact your school board members to show your concern!"