In a near duplicate of its robocall, Civitas Action is urging voters in this campaign mailer to tell Wake County school board member Kevin Hill to support the new student assignment plan.

The mailer from the conservative advocacy group says Hill voted no "on a bipartisan plan for stability, proximity and academic achievement." It also says he voted no "to parents having choice in where their children go to school."

The mailer also says that "Democrats, Republicans, the Chamber of Commerce and Wake Education Partnership support the choice plan."

"Tell Kevin Hill he should support the bi-partisan plan and parental choice — not long bus rides," according to the mailer.

Wake County student assignment will be the topic of a panel discussion Thursday night at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Tim Simmons of the Wake Education Partnership, Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation and "parent activist" Neil Riemann will be the panelists. Brenda Berg, a member of the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, will be the moderator.

"Come to hear from expert panelists who will explore the complexities of school board politics and the topic of busing for diversity as they apply to this current and local issue," according to this flier for the event.

The forum starts at 6:30 p.m. in Gardner Hall, Room 105 at UNC-Chapel Hill. It's sponsored by the UNC chapter of Students for Education Reform and the Roosevelt Institute Education Center.

A new conservative Civitas Action robocall designed to hurt Wake County school board member Kevin Hill in the runoff election is drawing complaints from the liberal N.C. Policy Watch.

In this Tuesday robocall, Civitas Action charges "liberal Kevin Hill voted to return to the days of constant reassignment and bureaucrats deciding what school your children attend" when he voted against the student assignment plan.

In a blog post today for N.C. Policy Watch, Rob Schofield charges it's a "scurrilous and inaccurate call."

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata and the school board are getting support from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership to vote on the student assignment plan on Tuesday.

In an op-ed piece today, leaders of both groups say the plan will empower parents, produce stability, create a culture of competition, efficiently use facilities and create a natural diversity. While the plan isn't perfect, they say it's  "a logical blueprint for moving beyond the divisive issue of reassignment."

"Delaying a decision at this point would only prolong the corrosive debate and further distract from pressing classroom issues and needed discussions about how to handle future enrollment growth," according to the piece written by Jim Brown, chair of Wake Education Partnership's board of directors and Jim Beck, chair of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.

We're getting some more details and a release date on Wake County student assignment models.

Superintendent Tony Tata said today they'll post online for public comment on May 23 the nine models reviewed by the task force. They'll also explain why they're recommending the "Blue Plan" and the "Green Plan."

The Blue Plan, which Tata also called the “community base choice plan” would be "rooted" in proposals such as the Wake School Choice Plan. This would be more of a choice plan.

We could be getting closer to an official position from the Great Schools in Wake Coalition on the Wake School Choice Plan.

GSIW issued a media advisory yesterday on a March 15 community forum on the Wake School Choice Plan that it's sponsoring with the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

The forum will run Tuesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Martin Street Baptist Church, 1001 East Martin Street in Raleigh.

What do Wake County school board meetings and the Cartoon Network have in common?

The New York Times thinks both have a lot in common according to this article that was posted online Sunday night and will appear in Monday's print edition. The Times article notes the more recent developments in the Wake school diversity controversy and how the Wake School Choice Plan could be the solution.

"The (school) board is split five Republicans to four Democrats, and for the last 15 months meetings have looked like a Cartoon Network special, featuring in the lead role Mr. (John) Tedesco, 36, the most verbal member of the majority," according to the article. "He is single with no children and has lots of time on his hands to stir things up."

UPDATE

No front page this time. The article appeared on pg. 11 in the A section of Monday's New York Times.

Add Richard Kahlenberg to the list of those who are praising the student assignment model for Wake County that was proposed by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.

In a guest blog column in today's Washington Post, Kahlenberg writes that the new controlled-choice plan "presents a credible third way between the constant reassignment of students under the old system and the tea party’s proposed re-segregation of Raleigh’s schools." He also calls it a "a politically palatable model for preserving diversity in our schools."

Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the liberal Century Foundation, was one of the most outspoken national supporters of Wake's old socioeconomic diversity policy. After the 2009 school board elections, Kahlenberg called for using controlled choice as a way to still maintain diversity in Wake's schools.

The response has been generally positive, especially from Wake County school leaders, about using the student assignment model from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.

It doesn't mean that Superintendent Tony Tata and school board members say they love everything about the new model. But as noted in today's article, Tata said he was impressed by the new model and expects his new task force to meld it into whatever is ultimately recommended.

"It seems to have a lot of community support," Tata said of the chamber plan. "It could be a good foundation."

Here's the short version on the new student assignment model presented today by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.

Under the “controlled-choice model” developed by Michael Alves, every Wake County family would be offered a choice of at least 10 elementary schools, five middle schools and five high schools. That list would include at least two magnet schools, two year-round schools and two traditional-calendar schools.

It's being billed as a compromise that would allow more students to go to schools closer to where they live while allowing some diversity in schools by trying not to overload them with too many low-achieving students.

UPDATE

Click here to read the online story.

BTW, school board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman is here at the press briefing. I don't yet see any of the other board members here.

In case you missed the link in the post to view the proposal, click here.

Tweaked wording to say at least 10 elementary, five middle and five high schools.

Here's a statement from Superintendent Tony Tata on today's proposal:

This is a highly complex and emotional challenge that requires input and discussion from the entire community in order for us to craft a solution that truly meets the needs of all families in Wake County.   The Chamber and Wake Ed Partnership’s proposal today will contribute to our planning process as we develop our student assignment plans in the months ahead."