The education reform package passed last year by the state legislature drew plenty of red flags at Thursday's Wake County school board student achievement committee meeting.

As noted in today's article, school board members said that issuing an A through F grade for every school will humiliate schools and won’t have much value. School leaders also say now requiring districts to hold summer reading camps for third-grade students who fail the state reading exam is an unfunded mandate.

“We are charged to make sure we have the best education system for our students and teachers," said school board member Jim Martin. "If something is coming down the track that doesn’t help students and teachers, then we have the obligation to get off the track before the train hits us.”

In a largely symbolic vote, the Wake County school board is expected to approve today leaving in place the now-defunct state policy that was meant to curb social promotion.

As noted in today's article, interim Superintendent Donna Hargens is asking the board to leave on the books the requirements that students pass state exams to be promoted and to graduate from high school. It won't have a practical change because kids will still largely be promoted even if they fail by appealing to the principal through a waiver process.

"We started the 10-11 school year with parents and students expecting that they'd be held accountable for being proficient," Hargens told school board members last month. "That's what's in their heads. That's what teachers have told them. That's what principals have told them."

UPDATE

Board member Deborah Prickett was the lone dissenter, saying they should match state policy. She pointed to the same reason used by the state Board of Education how the guidelines were time consuming and didn't help students.