In a new "white paper" released this morning, the Wake Education Partnership lays out why it feels Wake County's magnet school program largely needs to remain the way it's now operating.

In the group's third topic review of "Understand Your Schools," the WEP says the magnet program is helping to fill seats and avoid the creation of high-poverty schools in parts of the county. The WEP also argues why the current selection system serves a needed purpose and the problems that would be caused by dispersing more magnet programs around the county.

The magnet program is in the news now that the school board is in the process of adopting the community-based schools resolution, which could expand magnet offerings around the county while reducing the number of magnets now inside the Beltline.

The Wake Education Partnership is asking if a middle ground can still be found in the debate over how to assign students in Wake County's schools.

In last week's issue of In Context, the WEP's electronic newsletter, the group comments on the heated nature of the last school board meeting. The WEP noted the angry words used by school board members and the public over the community-based schools resolution.

"Critics and supporters of the board arrived early and spilled into the hallways carrying placards and passing out stickers," the WEP writes. "In public comment sessions lasting more than three hours, they resorted to calling each other racists and apologists. A few isolated calls for compromise drew only tepid support."

You can probably say that not all Wake County school board members will choose to use the conservative Civitas Institute for their annual training requirements.

As noted in today's article, the school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on designating Civitas as an approved provider of annual training for board members. State law requires school board members to get at least 12 hours of training a year.

School board chairman Ron Margiotta said he added it to the agenda because some board members want to take advantage of the new training program being started by Civitas. Margiotta said he wanted to avoid the situation in which the board members would take the classes but not be able to claim the credit.

Ann Denlinger, president of the Wake Education Partnership, is speaking out about Del Burns' resignation as Wake County schools superintendent and the upcoming search for his replacement.

Denlinger was interviewed by Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of the liberal N.C. Policy Watch, for this Sunday's broadcast of "News and Views." According to N.C. Policy Watch's Progressive Pulse blog, Denlinger says it’s clear to her that Burns “fell on his sword” to take a stand against those who hope to end the school system’s socioeconomic diversity policy.

You can watch online a preview of her interview where she talks about why Wake should pick an educator to be superintendent over a businessman.

If the Wake County school board does remove Del Burns earlier than June 30, someone needs to step in soon as interim superintendent.

As noted in Saturday's article, there's no obvious choice like a deputy superintendent to step in because Burns eliminated that position in 2006 when he converted it to the new slot of chief business officer.

While it's not a guarantee, three potential internal choices for interim superintendent could be Chief Area Superintendent Danny Barnes, Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens and Chief Business Officer David Neter. Of the trio, only Neter is a non-educator.

It would be an understatement to say that relations are strained between the new Wake County school board majority and the Wake Education Partnership.

As noted in today's article, school board members are questioning such recent WEP publications as the school assignment analysis and the assessment of Del Burns' resignation as superintendent. It's a departure from when the WEP worked closely with the old school board majority.

“They seem to be going against everything we want to do," said school board member Deborah Prickett. "I feel like a salmon swimming upstream against them.”

The Civitas Institute is taking aim at the Wake Education Partnership for its assessment of the resignation of Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns.

In a post Thursday for the conservative group, Bob Luebke questions the WEP saying that the relationship between Burns and the school board majority was "lopsided." He points out that Burns is the board's employee.

"Since the school board hires the superintendent to carry out the policies and directives of the Board, I’d guess that an arrangement is accurately described as an employer-employee relationship," Luebke writes. "As such, there is every expectation that the relationship is NOT one of co-equals but of superior-subordinates."

The Wake Education Partnership is taking a pretty bleak look at what the resignation of Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns will mean for the school system.

In this week's issue of In Context, the WEP's e-newsletter, the group warns that Burns' resignation will pose several challenges for the school system. The group questions how easy it will be for Wake to find a replacement given the split on the school board.

"Any clear understanding of what the future holds for Wake County’s public schools was tossed aside Tuesday night when Superintendent Del Burns stunned the new school board by announcing his resignation effective June 30," according to the newsletter.

The Wake Education Partnership is laying out the potential challenges of assigning Wake County students to their closest school

Today, the WEP released the second issue of "Understand Your Schools," which it says is in response to the new school board majority's efforts to change student assignment. In a nutshell, the WEP found that any proposal that relies on sending students solely to their closest schools would quickly create dozens of capacity problems.

The WEP says that the new school board majority knows it's not possible to assign all students to their closest school as it would require tens of thousands of reassignments. But it says its review is still important in light of what could be coming.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST 

The Wake Education Partnership is speaking out about the Wake County school calendar survey results.

In this week's issue of In Context, the group's e-newsletter, they note how 81 percent of parents said they would prefer to keep their current school calendar. They also note how 94.5 percent of parents said they were satisfied with their school regardless of the calendar.