Wake County school board members to juggle board duties and running for higher office

The filing period kicks off at noon today for candidates aspiring for state and federal office, including Wake County school board members Debra Goldman, Chris Malone and John Tedesco.

All three Republican school board members have indicated they don't plan on resigning their board seats unless they win in November. Some critics have called on the trio to resign now, which would allow the Democratic board majority to expand their margin without having to wait to see if the the candidates win their new seats.

The fact that a third of the school board plans to seek higher office drew attention at last week's school board meeting.

School board chairman Kevin Hill acknowledged their intentions while praising Malone at the start of the board work session.

"Since our last meeting, two of my colleagues have joined a third colleague in throwing their hat in the ring for the opportunity to continue their public service at another level," Hill said. "And I want to thank them for their willingness to serve. And I also want to thank Mr. Malone — who announced his intentions many, many months ago early last autumn — for setting an example of continuing to focus on school board/school system business while at the board table. So congratulations.

Tell Ms. Goldman (who wasn't present at the start of the work session) that I congratulate her for throwing her hat in the ring. Let's continue to focus on Wake County Public Schools and I think that Chris has set a good example of that at the board table."

"I appreciate that," Malone responded.

Now fast forward to the public comment portion of the regular board meeting.

"At this time, we need our school board to be completely focused on our students," said Vickie Adamson, a frequent critic of the Republican board members. "Therefore I request the school board members running for state-level office step aside and allow the board to appoint new members that are focused on the students and not running state-level campaigns and focused on their future offices."

Adamson drew clapping from the crowd, which as usual for the past two years has been made up of critics of the GOP board.

Adamson also complained that Goldman was late to the work session and charged she was texting during the discussion. Adamson closed that with all the budget discussions coming up that she wanted the board to be focused.

For the trio, they still need to win the May 8 GOP primary before they can campaign for the November election. It's expected that all three will be running against other candidates to secure the party nomination.