Should any private individuals or the members of the Wake County school board being sworn in on Tuesday pick up part of the tab for the reception?

As per tradition, a reception will be held after the new members are sworn into office on Tuesday. The reception will be catered by the school system's Office of Child Nutrition Services.

The precedent for individuals picking up part of the costs was set in 2009 when three leaders of the Wake Schools Community Alliance paid $300 of the $693.83 bill. Plus, the campaign manager for board member Debra Goldman brought in a cake.

The review team from AdvancED will begin today the interviews that will help determine whether Wake County's high schools remain accredited.

The interview schedule for today includes seven current school board members and the three newly elected board members. Also on tap today are Superintendent Tony Tata, teachers and high school principals.

Wednesday's interview schedule includes two school board members, Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore, the chief officers, area superintendents, the student assignment task force and the student body presidents.

Tomorrow's interview schedule also includes several community members and groups, including the state NAACP, the Great Schools in Wake Coalition, the Wake Schools Community Alliance, the Wake PTA Council, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is promoting her runoff endorsement from the Wake Schools Community Alliance in this new campaign mailer.

In the mailer, Losurdo quotes from the WSCA endorsement which had blamed incumbent Kevin Hill for "failing graduation rates," "600 teachers fired," "26,000 students reassigned," "'Wacky Wednesday' PLTs" and "mandatory year-round schedules." The mailer quotes how WSCA said Losurdo "has consistently supported neighborhood schools, advocated for the use of EVAAS" and "called for civility and consensus-building on our School Board."

"Wake County's Leading Independent Education Reform Organization Supports Heather Losurdo," says the mailer. "So should you."

The mailer is interesting considering how Losurdo's supporters were dismissive of the WSCA before the runoff when the group endorsed Jennifer Mansfield.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo says she's "thrilled" to receive the Wake Schools Community Alliance's endorsement in the runoff election.

In a statement Saturday, Losurdo called the WSCA endorsement "a major indication that Republicans, Democrats and independents are coming together" in the bid to oust incumbent Kevin Hill.

These upbeat words are a sharp contrast to the negative remarks traded backed and forth by supporters of Losurdo and the WSCA before Oct. 11. Both groups were saying some pretty harsh things about each other back when the WSCA was endorsing Jennifer Mansfield over Losurdo.

The Wake Schools Community Alliance is now endorsing Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo in the District 3 runoff after having previously backed Jennifer Mansfield.

In a press release today, WSCA says Losurdo "has consistently supported neighborhood schools, advocated for the use of EVAAS and other objective data-driven measurements to meet our educational challenges head-on and called for civility and consensus-building on our School Board."

In contrast, WSCA rips into incumbent school board member Kevin Hill, citing his tenure as board chairman. They blame him for "falling graduation rates," "600 teachers fired, while protecting non-teaching administrators," "26,000 students reassigned," '"Wacky Wednesday' PLT’s were implemented, without regard to their impact on families" and "mandatory year round schedules forced on thousands of families."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo holds the clear fundraising lead for the District 3 seat.

New campaign reports filed this week show that Losurdo had raised $40,244.55 as of Sept. 26 with $9,522.60 on hand. School board member Kevin Hill reported raising $24,055 with $12,570.69 on hand. Jennifer Mansfield is well behind with $5,802.19 raised and $2,513.18 on hand.

Some of the disparity between Losurdo and Hill is mitigated by the spending that outside groups have put into the race attacking her.

Steven Nelson, chairman of Wake County GOP Men's Club, is defending the husband of Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo amid questions about his guilty plea for hiring illegal immigrants.

In the September issue of the club's newsletter e-mailed this week, Nelson complained that the "left" had targeted Losurdo by not telling the full story about her husband's case. He said he wanted to give more details because "the truth will destroy their ability to use this smear."

Heather Losurdo said she didn't know ahead of time that Nelson would be mentioning her husband's case. But she said her husband was a victim of corrupt business practices who was caught in a difficult situation.

The Wake Schools Community Alliance is going after Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo and the new student assignment plan in its efforts to back Jennifer Mansfield in District 3.

In an e-mail Tuesday to WSCA supporters, the group says Losurdo "can't make those arguments on her own" and "she will rely on the Republican machine to feed her talking points." It's part of a message urging people to donate to Mansfield and help out in the campaign.

"WCPSS students deserve more!" according to the e-mail. "They deserve someone like Jennifer who has been in the trenches fighting for family oriented, student oriented solutions for many years."

Do 2007 donations from the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity to Wake CARES during the mandatory year-round lawsuit constitute grounds for linking the conservative Koch brothers to the 2009 Wake County school board elections?

That's how the left-wing cable news network MSNBC is trying to tie the Koch brothers to the new school board majority that ended the diversity policy. It was part of a segment on Wake County schools titled "Repealing the 20th Century" that aired Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Last Word" show.

"Now there are multiple reports directly or indirectly linking the Koch brothers — those mysterious right-wing billionaires behind the Astroturf-group Americans for Prosperity — to the Republican school board members who are actively pushing to resegregate Wake County schools," said Melissa Harris-Perry, the show's guest host. "To be fair, it's not entirely clear just how much money the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity put behind the candidates in 2009."

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The Wake County Republican Party has announced its endorsements for this fall's school board and municipal elections.

As expected, the press release sent today shows that the GOP-endorsed school board candidates are Heather Losurdo in District 3, Venita Peyton in District 4, Cynthia Matson in District 5, Donna Williams in District 6 and Ron Margiotta in District 8. This makes official the split in the opposition to Kevin Hill in District 3 with the Wake Schools Community Alliance having backed Jennifer Mansfield.

“The Wake County Republican Party is pleased to present these well qualified candidates on our endorsed slate," said Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant in the press release. "The process of recruiting and endorsing took over a year, with hard work from a strong recruitment committee. I am pleased with the final endorsements by the Wake County GOP Executive Board.

The Party is unified around this slate and we are looking forward to helping them achieve victory in the upcoming municipal elections this fall!"