There were some interesting bits of news from Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata at today's press conference.

Tata is ramping up efforts to improve bus safety following the spate of accidents so far this year. This news release has the highlights, including asking people to report bad drivers and increasing consequences for drivers who are at fault in accidents.

Tata also said he wants to more aggressively recruit black and Hispanic teachers to make the workforce more reflective of the student enrollment.

CORRECTED TYPO ABOUT PERCENTAGES OF WHITE AND BLACK TEACHERS

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST ON NUMBER OF BUS ACCIDENTS SINCE JAN. 1.

INCLUDED PDF AT END OF POST ON NEW STEM AND GLOBAL STUDIES PROGRAMS

Is it a fluke or some other reason that Wake County school bus accidents have seen a sharp rise so far this year?

As noted in today's article by Thomasi McDonald, there have been 57 school bus accidents since Jan. 1. Wake normally averages a dozen accidents a month.

School officials say they don't know why there's been such a spike in accidents that have left 14 students and drivers injured so far this year, none seriously.

Did you know that you could bypass the normal paperwork and procedure for getting a student transfer in Wake County by appealing directly to the superintendent?

As noted in today's article, that's evidently what school board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman's family did to get their daughter transferred, with bus service provided. She's one of only 15 students in all of Wake County who are attending their current school based on an "administrative transfer" approved by the superintendent.

Michael Evans, Wake's chief communications officer, said that then-interim Superintendent Donna Hargens had approved in January a verbal request from the parent at Goldman's address in Cary to transfer to Davis Drive Middle School. (He worded it that way without saying Goldman's name due to privacy rules.)

Wake County school officials are touting how they may have saved taxpayers $500,000 on diesel fuel costs to operate school buses.

Wake bought 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel on Feb. 4 to run through the end of the school year at $2.85 per gallon. If the state contract rate of $3.24 per gallon remains unchanged or goes higher, Wake will wind up saving at least $500,000.

Wake usually buys its fuel weekly or on an as-needed basis. But anticipating that prices would rise, the district paid $3.7 million to cover their anticipated fuel needs between Feb. 1 and June 30.

The Los Angeles Times is revisiting the Wake County school diversity fight with a Sunday article that talks about the "turmoil" that has been brought about by ending the diversity policy.

In today's article, which is relatively short on data but heavy on quotes from speakers at the Cary High reassignment public hearing, it's stated that "Wake County has become a test of diversity policies nationwide."

The LA Times had also written about the controversy last March after the school board's vote on the community schools directive.

I don't normally blog about incidents on Wake County school buses, but this  one raises some interesting issues about culpability.

As you've probably seen on the news by now, the school district has pulled a bus driver off the road while they investigate how a 6-year-old boy got on a bus and was dropped off miles from his home last week.

The question is whether the driver, a 17-year veteran with no prior complaints, should be disciplined over the incident. Another question is how much, if any, does the student bear the blame for what happened.

Former Wake County school board member Tom Oxholm did his best Peter Finch impersonation in a speech on school funding during Saturday's Great Schools in Wake Coalition forum.

In a speech mixed with data and fiery words, Oxholm implied that members of the school board majority are demagogues who don't know what they're talking about financially. He also threw in a New Jersey dig and explained that the move to socioeconomic diversity he helped implement in 2000 was done for financial reasons because they didn't have enough money for academic programs.

"Our assignment decision was never designed to help any particular student," Oxholm said of the board's vote in 2000. "Test scores for any one individual were not taken into account because of their school assignment and we knew it wouldn't make them any better a student. We also knew it wouldn't make them any worse of a student."

The Wake County school board voted this afternoon to reinstate after-school activity bus service used by middle schools and high schools.

Wake will use a combination of federal and local funding to reinstitute the service, which had been dropped for this school year for budget reasons. The 65 activity buses had transported home students who had stayed after school for athletics, tutoring, band and other extracurricular activities. The buses took the students to community centers.

School board members admitted they made a mistake by having eliminated the service when working on the budget in March.

The Wake County school board has scheduled a special meeting for Monday to potentially restore funding for after-school activity bus service.

The school board has agreed to eliminate the activity bus service earlier this year to help deal with the tight budget. But with the start of traditional-calendar schools on Wednesday, parents have complained about losing the bus service used by students who take part in sports, clubs or other extracurricular activities.

According to the board meeting agenda, the "service elimination creates potential inequities in after school educational opportunities available to all students." Board members will talk about reinstating the program by using part of the $27.7 million the district is expected to receive out of the state's $300 million share of the federal Education Jobs Bill.

You've got some unhappy families right now dealing with the loss of after-school activity buses that dropped off Wake County students to community centers near their homes.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, the school district cut the bus service in an attempt to save money. These 65 buses transported students who were on campus after classes for things such as tutoring, sports and band.

Beverley Clark, a former school board member who has been a vocal critic of the new board majority, said the move is ill-advised.