It's pretty clear from Rita Rakestraw's campaign kickoff event that she really likes the diversity policy and folk music.

Rakestraw told the crowd on Thursday that a main part of her platform for the school board is protecting the diversity policy. She later ended the event by pulling out a guitar and playing a pair of folk tunes.

"I want to make sure all our schools are socioeconomicially diverse," Rakestraw said. "That is really important. In terms of academic achievement, diversity is what we need."

Rita Rakestraw is getting some help for her campaign run for the District 1 school board seat.

Rakestraw is being assisted by Democratic political strategist Perry Woods. He's also working with Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and several Democratic candidates for City Council.

Here's the press release from Woods, an occasional poster on the blog, about Rakestraw filing today:

Supporters of the diversity policy may have found a champion to carry on for outgoing school board member Patti Head.

Karen Simon, who says she'll "focus on investing in the best possible education for Wake County students" will run for Head's District 7 seat. She's allied with District 1 school board candidate Rita Rakestraw, an outspoken advocate of the diversity policy.

Here's Simon's press release:

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

It's probably appropriate that Rita Rakestraw will officially "kick off" her campaign tonight for the school board at a martial arts academy.

Rakestraw's kickoff event will be at 7 p.m. at Black Belt USA, 300 Black Belt World Drive in Knightdale. She's been campaigning since March but tonight's event coincides with the official start of the candidate filing period on Monday.

Starting at 8:30 a.m. Monday and running through noon on July 17, candidates can officially file with the Wake County Board of Elections for the four school board seats on this year's ballot.

Supporters of the diversity policy may have found their candidate in the District 9 school board race in Cary.

According to the latest edition of the Independent, Lois Nixon has told the weekly that she'll announce her candidacy for the open District 9 seat. Nixon is past president of Environmental Educators of N.C. and former coordinator of the Keep America Beautiful program in Wake County.

According to the Indy, Nixon is also active on the education committee of WakeUP Wake County. That group has been a vocal supporter of the school system.

UPDATE

Included link to this week's Indy article. 

The candidate field for the District 1 school board race is getting crowded and possibly a little muddied.

As noted in today's North Raleigh News article, three candidates plan to run active campaigns. In addition to Chris Malone and Rita Rakestraw, you can add Debbie Vair to the list of people who want to replace Lori Millberg, who is not running for another term.

With Vair apparently reaching out to the same people as Malone, things could get easier for Rakestraw on Election Day.

Unless things changed over the weekend, we should have had another candidate announcing for the District 2 school board seat.

Arnold Osborn had announced on the blog last week that he's running against incumbent board member Horace Tart. The self-described conservative Christian had planned to have an official press release out earlier this week.

Below is the platform he listed on his web site:

Will a new school district analysis of how far students live from school quiet criticism over the busing program?

As noted in today's article, the new report found that 86 percent of students are assigned to schools within 5 miles of their home and it's up to 99 percent when you increase the distance to 10 miles from home.

Supporters of the district are hailing the report as proof that busing complaints are overstated.

The clock will soon start for people to formally submit their names for consideration for Rosa Gill's seat on the school board.

As noted in today's article, the board agreed Tuesday to seek applications from the public through noon on July 20. The application window will begin once Gill's resignation becomes official, which is expected to take place by Thursday.

The board went through a lengthy review of the process. The upshot of it is that you shouldn't expect a guaranteed interview from the board.

The Wake Schools Community Alliance isn't wasting any time making an endorsement in the District 1 school board race.

The WSCA sent out a press release Tuesday evening announcing the endorsement of former Wake Forest Town Commissioner Chris Malone for the seat being vacated by Lori Millberg. Malone only announced his candidacy on Friday although rumors about his interest in the seat have been floating around the community for months.

This is the second time the WSCA has issued an endorsement within days of a candidate coming forward. Just two days after Deborah Prickett announced her candidacy in District 7, the group endorsed her.