How much weight should be given to the disapproval coming from the business community over the Wake County school board's approval of the student assignment directive?

As noted in today's article, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership both expressed disappointment Wednesday over the vote. During the board discussion, the Republican board members had pointed to the support both groups had provided to the choice plan, including paying to bring Michael Alves to Raleigh.

"I’m just suggesting that the option of tabling it for 60 days to allow the staff to show us potential impact, to allow the community to have greater conversation in depth on that impact would be reasonable considering the amount of turmoil we as a community have gone through over the last couple of years, the amount of investment the staff and the system has already made both financially and with time, the amount of investment the community has made with the hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Ed Partnership and other community partners," said GOP board member John Tedesco. "To move in this direction asking for 60 days I think is very reasonable."

The Wake Education Partnership is, to put it mildly, not happy with the Wake County school board's decision to change direction on the student assignment plan.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Steve Parrott, president of the WEP, said they were "extremely disappointed in the decision-making process used by the school board and frustrated by the absence of a collaborative approach." The WEP was heavily involved in the new choice plan, working directly with Michael Alves.

As for the board meeting Tuesday, Parrott writes that "late-night, partisan debate is not how a world-class organization would conduct its strategic work and is not representative of the skills and behaviors demanded from our students for college and career success."

UPDATE

I've reposted the WEP document as a PDF file.

Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata gave hopeful messages today about the state budget and the magnet school review during his news conference.

Tata said Wake has been "working very hard" with the General Assembly on the budget. Tata said he's hopeful of what he believes will be a good budget discussion over the next several weeks with legislators to hopefully lessen the impact of lost federal stimulus funds.

Tata said he's been talking to state legislators since January to articulate the school district's budget needs.

The Wake Education Partnership is warning Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata that "he will need to move both quickly and carefully" in shaping the next chapter of the magnet school program.

In the latest issue of In Context, the WEP's e-newsletter notes today how Tata asked about 100 parents, educators and business leaders last week to offer advice on the next chapter in Wake’s magnet school history. This is occurring as staff conducts a review of the magnet program.

“We’re not going to be able to just layer new stuff on,” Tata is quoted as telling that group. “I’m a big supporter of the magnet programs, but it has to be in the right place doing the right thing.”

The Wake Education Partnership is saying that "the district’s desire to tightly control school capacities" is the cause of most of the complaints about the new student assignment plan.

In the latest issue of In Context, the WEP's e-newsletter, the group says that failure to control capacities was "a significant problem in prior years that often led to severe overcrowding and frequent reassignments."

"Because the current plan promises families they will not be reassigned, Superintendent Tony Tata has been extremely reluctant to over-enroll schools," the WEP writes. "Instead, he has emphasized new programs to attract families to schools that have space."

The spin from both supporters and critics of Wake County's new student assignment plan is well in progress.

As noted in today's article, critics like the Great Schools in Wake Coalition and some parents dispute Superintendent Tony Tata's assertions that the first round of the selection process was a success.

But Michael Alves, who is being paid by Wake to consult on the plan's implementation, and Wake Education Partnership Vice President Tim Simmons say the results are encouraging.

Allison Backhouse now has her own blog and her focus today is on AdvancED's  accreditation investigation of the Wake County school system.

Backhouse criticizes the "ridiculous complaint" by the Rev. William Barber of the state NAACP that led to the review. Noting the recent positive AdvancED report, she writes that the organization's concerns were addressed "due to the hard work of the previous Board and Supt. Tata."

"But, what has really changed – besides the political majority on the School Board?" Backhouse writes. "Are our high schools and their students better in some way? Even the Wake Education Partnership came to the conclusion that accreditation is just a public perception issue. We think it’s important only because we’ve been told it is."

The issue of Michael Alves' unannounced private meeting with the new Democratic members of the Wake County school board won't seem to go away.

The issue was revisited with some heated comments during Tuesday's board meeting. The discussion, more of which is detailed later in the post, shows the continuing wariness between the Republican and Democratic members.

More recently, Terry Stoops, director of education studies for the conservative John Locke Foundation, brought up the issue in a Thursday blog post.

Who will the Democratic majority on the Wake County school board side with on the new student assignment plan?

As noted in today's article, different influential groups have taken opposing sides on the plan. Will the Democratic board members side with the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership who want the plan to be implemented for this fall?

Or will the new majority side with the Great Schools in Wake Coalition's call for the plan to be delayed a year?

The Republican members of the Wake County school board are not happy that they weren't notified that education consultant Michael Alves was holding a private meeting with the new Democratic board members.

Word about the meeting because public during Tuesday's board work session after GOP board member Debra Goldman asked about the references that the Democratic members were making about having talked with Alves.

"Did I miss a meeting where Mr. Alves came and talked to the board?" Goldman questioned Democratic board chairman Kevin Hill.

UPDATE

CLARIFIED THAT IT'S THE GREATER RALEIGH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THAT HAS RETAINED ALVES TO HELP WAKE WITH THE PLAN

KEVIN HILL AND JIM MARTIN NOW SAY THAT THE MEETING WITH ALVES TOOK PLACE DEC. 7, THE DAY AFTER THE NEW MEMBERS WERE SWORN IN.