Late Tuesday night, the Wake County school board voted 5-4 along party lines to pass on first reading the reinstatement of the student achievement, finance, policy and facilities committees.

Under the vote, which will still require a second reading for adoption, the committees would be reevaluated after six months. Left unresolved Tuesday was the future of the economically disadvantaged student performance task force.

Democratic school board chairman Kevin Hill proposed keeping the ED task force but rolling it into the student achievement committee. That proposal drew opposition from Republican school board member John Tedesco, who has headed the ED task force since its formation in 2010.

The Wake County school board meeting is running past 11 p.m. despite an effort to adjourn the meeting.

Pursuant to board policy, board chairman Kevin Hill said he needed a vote to continue the meeting past 11 p.m. He said they need to continue because staff had time-sensitive items.

School board member Debra Goldman then made a motion to adjourn the meeting. That vote took priority but was defeated with only Goldman, Chris Malone and Deborah Prickett supporting adjournment.

With the motion defeated, the board voted to continue with the meeting.

UPDATE

A second motion from Goldman at 11:11 p.m. to adjourn the meeting was also defeated.

A third motion from Goldman at 11:18 p.m. was defeated.

With all business done, the motion passed to adjourn at 11:20 p.m.

Wake County school board member Debra Goldman says she's taking on the role of board "watchdog."

During last week's board meeting, Goldman, a Republican, repeatedly raised concerns about the way she felt the new Democratic board majority was operating. She accused the board of committing several policy violations and not passing the "smell test" on email discussions.

"You’ve referred to me as the watchdog and I will pick up that mantle and go forward with it," Goldman said during the meeting.

Student assignment is just one of many items that will be discussed during today's Wake County school board meeting.

A dozen items are on the agenda for the work session that starts at 1 p.m. Student assignment is listed as the last item but could be moved up.

Other work session topics include setting up joint meetings with the county commissioners, the return of school board committees, staff handling of public information requests and enrollment projections for operating and capital budgets.

Items on the agenda for the regular meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. include approving the Jim Black land deal and selling the school system's Noble Road facility. This is also the first meeting where public comment will be restored to three minutes per speaker.

Speakers will once again have three minutes each during the public comment section at Wake County school board meetings.

School board chairman Kevin Hill said he'd institute the change starting in January. It came after new school board member Jim Martin said giving three minutes would be a "gesture of good listening" as he also noted that speakers at Wake County commissioner meetings get three minutes.

Former board chairman Ron Margiotta had cut the time to two minutes in 2010, saying it would let the board hear from more speakers during the lengthy public comment sessions. Margiotta kept it at at two minutes even after the numbers dwindled for public comment.  

One test for the new board majority will be what happens when large crowds show up to speak. Will the board extend public comments past 30 minutes or tell remaining speakers to go at the end of the meeting? The old board went both ways.

Wake County school board committees are likely to come back soon.

Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill said that the restoration of committees will be brought up at the Jan. 10 board meeting. He said the decision was made after consulting with board vice chairman Keith Sutton and Superintendent Tony Tata.

It was pretty clear that the new board majority was moving in this direction following the discussion at the Dec. 10 board retreat.

Next will come the potentially sticky issue of handing out committee chairs and assignments. Will Hill do what former board chairman Ron Margiotta did in 2010 by giving most of the committee assignments and chairs to members of the majority?

It doesn't look like there's much doubt that the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board will restore the standing committees.

But, as noted in today's article, the discussion during Saturday's retreat came with some recriminations. Members of the new majority complained about how they felt things had been governed over the past two years by the ousted Republican majority.

Interestingly enough, things had been relatively smooth heading into that part of the discussion after the discussion on amending the core beliefs.

New Wake County school board member Jim Martin did things a little differently on Tuesday when he took the oath of office.

Martin took the oath on a copy of the N.C. Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. He also affirmed he would carry out his duties, not swear he would.

Martin later explained that he is a Christian. But Martin said he feels so strongly about the separation between church and state that he decided not to swear on a Bible.

More to come later, but the new Democratic majority on the Wake County school board exerted its muscle today by electing Keith Sutton as vice chairman.

The vote ends John Tedesco's tenure as vice chair six months earlier than it was supposed to finish. But the 2009 decision by Republicans to replace Kevin Hill early as board chair set the precedent for today.

During the vice chair's vote, Sutton got five votes. Debra Goldman got three votes. Deborah Prickett got one vote. I'll check the ballots later.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Kevin Hill was elected chairman of the Wake County school board today after Democrats retook control, but Republican John Tedesco looks to be on the way out as vice chairman.

Following the vote on Hill, new Democratic board member Jim Martin called for an organizational meeting to be added to the agenda. This would allow the vote on vice chair.

The vote on the organizational meeting was 5-4 in support along the new party lines. The meeting will come after the public comment.

UPDATE

The nomination process for board chair opened with Republican board member Chris Malone nominating Democratic board member Keith Sutton. But Sutton declined the nomination and instead nominated fellow Democrat Kevin Hill.

Also during the discussion, school board attorney Ann Majestic said Hill can take advantage of the new state law passed this year saying the chair votes on all issues and not just ties. Majestic said the law went into effect Dec. 1.