When it comes time to make a decision, will Southeast Raleigh families still continue to go to suburban schools or opt to stay in their neighborhoods?

As noted in today's article, the Southeast Raleigh families have traditionally been silent when it comes to participating in Wake County's student assignment process. That was shown again Thursday at Southeast Raleigh High when only 30 people showed up at the latest student assignment public meeting.

A lot could depend on what Southeast Raleigh families think about the old diversity policy.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

The District 6 race for the Wake County school board is looking like it could be the most expensive of all the races this fall.

The new campaign report filed today by Christine Kushner shows she has raised $41,565.83 as of Aug. 30 with $33,256.54. The new report filed today by Donna Williams shows she has raised $27,806.83 as of Aug. 30 with $22,634.43 on hand.

The biggest donor in Kushners' new report is the Democratic Women of Wake County, which gave $1,100. She also received small donations from former school board members John Gilbert, Lori Millberg, Tom Oxholm and Susan Parry.

David Holdzkom is now Wake County's highest paid classroom teacher.

As noted in today's article, Superintendent Tony Tata involuntarily removed  Holdzkom last Friday from his position of assistant superintendent of evaluation and research. With no other senior position in store, Holdzkom said he asked to be sent back to the classroom.

Holdzkom was reassigned Wednesday to Millbrook High SChool to be an English  teacher, which he is licensed to do. He said he'll be teaching English IV and Shakespeare.

How much value do you place on the national research on the benefits of maintaining socioeconomically diverse schools?

As noted in today's article, the importance of the social science research was a dividing point at Tuesday's forum between Richard Kahlenberg and Abigail Thernstrom. Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a liberal think tank, repeatedly pointed to what he called "dozens of studies" extolling the benefits of integration and the downsides of high-poverty schools.

"Let me begin with the four decades of research which suggests that having separate schools for low-income and middle class students will never provide genuine equal opportunity," Kahlenberg said.

CORRECTED THERNSTROM'S REFERENCE ON WHO GAMED THE SYSTEM IN TEXAS AND ADDED LINK AT END OF POST TO VIEW THE FORUM

The end of Wake County Superintendent's Del Burns tenure was quiet.

As noted in today's article, Burns left without any official recognition from the school board. It was only a group of former school board members who honored Burns for his more than 30 years of service with a dinner at Angus Barn on June 8.

In contrast, Bill McNeal was praised and feted on his way out by the old board in 2006.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is going is heading into western Wake and Garner for its next series of neighborhood forums.

In a press release Friday, GSIW announced a Thursday forum at Pleasant Grove Church in Cary and a May 27 forum at Poplar Springs Christian Church near Garner. Members of the new board majority did well in both Cary and Garner in last fall's election.

GSIW chairwoman Yevonne Brannon said they're holding these new forums because the group is "flooded with questions" from the public about the future of the district.

Rita Rakestraw may run again for a seat on the Wake County school board.

Rakestraw, who lost the District 1 race in October to Chris Malone, said Monday she's put her campaign committee on hiatus as she mulls whether to run again. One indication that she may run again is that her final campaign report shows she still has $9,670.70 left of the $29,634.74 she had raised.

Rakestraw had raised the most money of any school board candidate last year although John Tedesco spent more than her.

The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is organizing a trio of meetings to build community support for saving the school diversity policy.

In a press release Monday, the group announced a pair of February neighborhood forums "to educate the public about critical issues facing our schools." But the biggest event could be a March forum that will include Bill McNeal, Gerald Grant, Richard Kahlenberg and Caroline Massengill.

The first forum will be on Feb. 18 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at St. Matthews AME Church, 1629 Bennett St. in Raleigh. The speakers will include retired educator Dudley Flood, Margaret Rose Murray and Wake County Commissioner Lindy Brown.

One of the first tests of how well the new and old school board members will get along will come early during today's meeting when a new vice chair is chosen to replace the outgoing Horace Tart.

Barring any wheeling and dealing, the new vice chair should be Ron Margiotta or one of the four new board members. How the old board handles this could say a lot.

The old board could make it a unanimous choice for vice chair or could run a second nominee for a split vote. The old board could also choose to vote against the new vice chair even though that person is the only nominee.

That happened in 2008 when Kevin Hill flipped his vote for chair, backing Rosa Gill over Lori Millberg. Even though Hill was the only nominee for vice chair, three board members voted no in protest.

The outgoing school board members left without throwing any real verbal bombs today as they were showered with awards and praise.

The outgoing board members spent much of their final comments thanking their families and school administrators. They also stood behind the decisions they made.

"Parents haven’t really liked what was done," said school board vice chairman Horace Tart. "But we always did what we did with the children in mind. That was the big picture."