Ben Clapsaddle contends that the experience he gained in the U.S. Army and his work since then as a consultant would serve him well on the Wake County school board.

In Clapsaddle's application for the District 1 vacancy, the 53-year-old retired colonel notes he served 27 years in the Army. Since retiring in 2008, he's held various civilian posts working with the Army, including most recently being a project manager and consultant at Fort Bragg.

"Using my experience gained in both public and private sector, my experience as a manager and leader of large complex organizations and a strategist, I will work with the Board's staff to set policies and strategies designed to guide the County for 5 to 10 years increments," Clapsaddle writes in the application. "Will help make adjustments for short term issues, but always look to the future as the District and County grows."

The Wake County school board's policy committee is schedule to review a bunch of policies at today's meeting.

What potentially could be the most heated discussion is a review of Policy 8101: Undesignated Operating Fund Balance. That's the one that theoretically limits how much of the fund balance that the school board can keep before returning the excess to county commissioners.

The school board traditionally waives the policy with a two-thirds majority to keep the excess fund balance. Politically, the board majority should have the votes once the District 1 vacant is filled to waive it again, but at least some minority members are unhappy.

The eight applicants for the Wake County school board vacancy are giving their views on diversity, armed guards in schools, the choice plan, performance pay for teachers, the school construction bond issue and charter schools.

The answers are part of an article in this week's issue of the liberal Independent Weekly, which focused on their views on diversity and armed guards. The diversity responses run the gamut from support to opposition to its use in student assignment.

On one end are these people whose views on diversity seem to be the closest in line to the board majority.

Changes on the Wake County school board mean new leadership roles for board members Kevin Hill and Susan Evans.

Hill will now chair the board's facilities committee, replacing the departed Chris Malone. Hill, who can now chair committees since he's no longer board chair, will lead the committee as it takes the lead role in developing the new school bond issue.

New board chairman Keith Sutton has asked Evans to take over for him as chair of the board's finance committee. Evans will chair the lead committee on developing the school budget in what could be a tough funding year with county commissioners.

My eventual goal is to do separate blog posts for the six applicants who filed Friday for the Wake County school board District 1 vacancy, similar to what I did when the first two applied.

But for now, I'm including links so people can view the applications that all eight applicants submitted. Some tout their K-12 education experience, or their business experience or their military experience.

The applicants also bring up an interesting list of references, including current state legislators, past and present mayors, past school board members and leaders of community groups.

Pencil in Feb. 5 for the date when the Wake County school board will fill the vacancy for the District 1 seat.

The school board will hold 30-minute interviews with all eight applicants that day. The vote will come toward the end of that day's regularly scheduled meeting.

It was a bit of a compromise.

The Wake County school board will tackle today school facilities utilization and filling the vacancies for superintendent and the District 1 board seat.

During the work session, the board will discuss the superintendent search process with a vote scheduled at the regular meeting on hiring a search firm. Don't be surprised if the Republican board members complain about the process, similar to how Democrats didn't like the process in 2010.

Also during the work session, the board will discuss how it will go forward with filling the board vacancy. You could see the board adopting dates to hold the interviews with the applicants and to have the votes.

Also during the work session, staff will present the 2012-13 facilities utilization report. This report takes more significance this year considering that plans are in progress to have a bond issue on the ballot this fall.

We've got the names, but not yet the application packets, for the people who filed Friday for the open District 1 seat on the Wake County school board.

The applicants are:

* H. Wade Minter, a Democrat from North Raleigh, who unsuccessfully ran in 2002 and 2004 as a Libertarian candidates for state House.

I can tell you that eight people have applied for the District 1 vacancy on the Wake County school board, but that's about all I can say for most of them.

Six last-minute applications came in this afternoon to beat the 5 p.m. filing deadline. The problem is administrators say they can't reach the person who received the applications to say who they are from.

Administrators say they expect to have the names of the final six applicants by Monday.

UPDATE

As of 4 p.m. Monday, Wake has not provided the names or applications of the people who filed Friday.

A retired Wake County principal became today the second person to apply for the district’s open school board seat.

Tom Benton of Zebulon said his 32 years in education would help the often divided Wake County school board. He’s seeking the District 1 seat vacated by Chris Malone that represents Wake Forest, Rolesville and most of eastern Wake.

“I’ve got some useful experience, and I consider myself a consensus builder ... this is a really good opportunity to step in and try to have an impact,” said Benton, 62. “I’m too young to stay at home and do nothing.”

UPDATE

Benton also has a letter from former District 1 school board member Linda Johnson urging the board to appoint him to the position.