Chris Malone and John Tedesco attend Civitas training

Wake County school board members Chris Malone and John Tedesco got some additional training on Friday, courtesy of the Civitas Institute.

Malone and Tedesco were among a dozen school board members who attended a training session in Raleigh organized by Civitas, according to Bob Luebke, senior policy analyst for the conservative group. School board members are required under state law to get a minimum of 12 hours of training a year.

Friday's session topics included:

* Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member Kaye McGarry talking about the roles and responsibilities of board members.

* Jason Kay, an attorney for the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law talked about state ethics legislation do's and dont's for school board members. (Art Pope is a major funder of the Institute for Constitutional Law.)

* Winston-Salem/Forsyth school board member A.J. "Buddy" Collins gave a talk called "How to boost student achievement: What I've learned from my time on the school board."

Luebke said the event went well.

By a 5-4 vote, the GOP members of the Wake school board had voted this year to designate Civitas as an approved trainer. Board members who attended the session paid either $50 or $60, depending on when they registered.

In the Civitas listing for the event, the group noted that "Civitas Institute is listed as an approved provider of school board training for the Wake County Schools, the largest school district in North Carolina."

Critics of the board majority had objected to hiring Civitas. It's one of the items cited in the accreditation complaint filed by the state NAACP. AdvancED has asked for documentation on the decision as part of its pending special review.