You've got a mix of school board politics and catcalling between Rolesville Mayor Frank Eagles and school administrators over the Forest Ridge High School site.

On Monday, District 1 candidate Debbie Vair was planning to present to Wake County Commissioners her alternative to using the Forest Ridge location. But Vair wasn't allowed to make the presentation because Commissioner Betty Lou Ward objected to letting a candidate speak.

Rolesville Mayor Frank Eagles stepped in for Vair and made the presentation for acquiring a site on U.S. 401 near Louisbury Road. It's about a mile or so from the Forest Ridge site on Forestville Road near U.S. 401.

In the heated and fragmented race for the District 2 school board seat, what will matter more to voters?

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, incumbent Horace Tart is arguing that things have improved over the past four years while also saying he can't guarantee that constituents will always get what they want.

The other three active candidates are taking a decidedly different viewpoint.

A national labor union has stepped into the Wake County school board elections to endorse candidates and fling barbs at SEANC head Dana Cope.

UNITE HERE, which represents hospitality and textile workers, issued a press release today endorsing Rita Rakestraw in District 1 and Karen Simon in District 7 for their support of Wake's school diversity policy.

UNITE HERE said it felt "morally obligated to get involved" because Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of N.C., and Ardis Watkins, legislative director of SEANC, had formed the Children's PAC to back candidates who support neighborhood schools. They said Cope and Watkins "have done their union and the union movement a real disservice."

UPDATED WITH COPE'S RESPONSE AT END OF POST 

Deborah Prickett and Karen Simon pretty much took 180s from each other during this morning's District 7 Wake school board candidate forum.

Prickett repeatedly found ways to mention her support for neighborhood schools as a way to promote stability and improve academic performance. LIke the other WSCA-backed candidates, Prickett repeatedly pointed to Wake's 54.6 percent graduation rate for low-income students to attack the diversity policy.

"There is overwhelming evidence that the diversity policy isn’t working in Wake," Prickett said. "Too many poor and minority students are not graduating."

You've got a chance this morning to see District 7 school board candidates Deborah Prickett and Karen Simon go head to head.

Today's forum, sponsored by the Wake Education Partnership and the chambers of commerce or Raleigh and Morrisville, will take place at 8 a.m. It will be held at the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce, 260 Town Hall Dr.

If you can't make it to Morrisville, NBC 17 is supposed to stream the forum live. The Partnership will eventually post the forum on its web site.

The forum is still taking place even though a complaint was filed Friday over the Wake Education Partnership's recent electronic newsletter on the board races.

With the Wake school board elections two weeks away, add Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce President Harvey Schmitt to those warning about the potential dangers of abandoning the diversity policy.

In an interview this morning on WPTF, Schmitt praised the academic quality of the Wake school system as helping the economic health of the region. While Schmitt said he understands why people would want neighborhood schools, he warned that abandoning the diversity policy would lead to the creation of pockets of economic decay and inequalities in property values.

UPDATE

Click here to listen to the interview.

School board candidates Chris Malone and Debbie Vair aren't pulling any punches, against Rita Rakestraw or each other, in the battle to win the District 1 seat.

As noted in today's article, both Malone and Vair back neighborhood schools and contend that voting for Rakestraw would be a mistake. But they're also taking shots at each other as they try to win the support of board critics.

Malone calls Vair a "one-issue candidate," with that issue being her opposition of the location of the new Forest Ridge High School.

The N&O's editorial board has announced its endorsements in today's newspaper.

The editorial board is backing Rita Rakestraw in District 1, Horace Tart in District 2, Karen Simon in District 7 and Lois Nixon in District 9. The editorial notes, among other things, how the four candidates support the diversity policy.

The editorial board is not connected to the newsroom's coverage of the school board races. They don't tell us what to write and we don't tell them.

The editorial board's endorsements mirror those of Wake NCAE, BiggerPicture4Wake, the Independent and the Wake County Democratic Party. The one exception is that the Dems aren't backing a candidate in District 2.

Did the Wake Education Partnership cross the line in its latest newsletter and inappropriately influence the school board elections?

As noted in today's article, that's alleged in the complaint filed late Friday with the state Board of Elections by Joe Ciulla. He alleges that the statements in the Partnership's newsletter, In Context, violate the group's non-profit status.

"It's far beyond their place to make false statements in support of their candidates," Ciulla said

Here's your chance to listen to most of Wednesday's school board candidate forum.

WPTF has posted online the audio from the event. But it's not perfect. The live broadcast was interrupted by commercials and those 10 or so lost minutes are not in the mp3 file. 

But you can still listen to about 75 minutes of the forum.

Click here for a link to hear the forum.