The first meeting of the Wake County school board's new student assignment committee has now been set for Thursday.

School board member John Tedesco, the committee chairman, said the meeting will focus on looking at a handful of node changes for the 2010-11 school year. This includes requests from Brier Creek families to be reassigned to the new Mills Park Middle School and to stay at Panther Creek High.

The meeting will take place as the final community members of the committee are being finalized. The membership so far represents a diverse mix of people, some of whom will be well known on the blog.

 SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR FINAL TWO COMMITTEE MEMBERS

CORRECTION: I HAD THE WRONG SUE KING LISTED. SEE INFO AT END OF POST.

Chris Malone, Lois Nixon and Cathy Truitt have filed their 2009 final Wake County school board campaign reports.

In Malone's final report, he reported raising $18,186 and spending $18,056.12 in his successful bid for the District 1 seat. He reported contributions from Take Wake Schools Back, the N.C. Indian-American Political Action Committee and the Northern Wake Republican Club.

Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney is retiring on March 1.

As noted in today's article, Dulaney, 62, told Wake County Supt. Del Burns on Nov. 24 that he's retiring to spend more time with his family. He's arguably had the most thankless job over the past nearly four years, drawing up assignment plans and recommending which schools to convert to a year-round calendar.

"Chuck has done a tremendous job doing what's right for children in Wake County, especially those who are most in need," said Diana Bader, a Cary parent. "It will be very tough to find someone who's as committed to serving all the children in Wake County."

Don't be surprised if you see pictures of school board candidate Cathy Truitt shaking hands with new board member John Tedesco.

Truitt unexpectedly crashed Tedesco's post-election gathering at the Heather Hills clubhouse. Tedesco was looking at the results outside the polling place when he unexpectedly got a start from Truitt, who tapped him from behind.

School board candidate Cathy Truitt is trying to position herself as being a hero in the minds of opponents of the diversity policy.

As noted in today's article, Truitt said her announcement over the weekend that she'll served if elected was meant to forestall the possibility of the current school board filling the seat if she got the most votes today.

"I'm ensuring they can't appoint a supporter of forced busing," Truitt said.

Wake County school board candidate Cathy Truitt said today she will serve on the board if she wins Tuesday's District 2 runoff election.

“It may be improbable that I'm elected, but if I am, I will take the oath and serve,” she told N&O reporter Cathy Truitt. “I made that commitment to the children.”

Truitt finished a distant second to John Tedesco in the Oct. 6 elections, and quickly requested a runoff. She later conceded the race and tried to take back her request after early voting had begun.

But Truitt never officially withdrew her candidacy, and the state Board of Elections last week decided to go forward with the runoff.

School board candidate John Tedesco has overtaken Cathy Truitt for the fundraising lead in District 2.

In this campaign report received today, Tedesco reported having raised $20,065.96 as of Oct. 19. Through that same time period, Truitt had reported raising $19,425.31.

Tedesco also has a lot more money than Truitt available for spending in the final week. He reported having spent $12,936.07 and having $6,100.40 on hand.

School board candidate Cathy Truitt burned through a good chunk of her campaign money before the runoff.

This campaign report Truitt filed today showed that she had $621.39 left as of Oct. 19. She's spent most of the $19,425.31 she's raised so far.

Would the will of the voters in District 2 be disenfranchised/suppressed if the runoff took place or if was canceled?

As noted in today's article, state NAACP President William Barber said canceling the runoff now would deprive voters of their say. Even though Cathy Truitt doesn't want a runoff, Barber said holding the election on Nov. 3 would give voters the right to say they don't want John Tedesco to represent them.

"We're calling on the county Board of Elections and the state Board of Elections to rule in favor of not disenfranchising voters," Barber said.

In the two weeks that have marked Cathy Truitt's school board runoff election campaign, one challenge that she couldn't overcome was the inability to pick up the backing of people who supported the diversity policy.

Truitt had said she could be the swing vote against resegregation. But the Independent was the only diversity policy supporter to back her in the runoff, with columnist Bob Geary urging moderates and progressives to rally behind her.

But Truitt struck out with other groups. In particular, Wake NCAE chose not to make an endorsement in the runoff. The group had backed Horace Tart originally.