WCPSS

Cross posted from HK Activist

By Will McMillan

November 8th is approaching and with it the fate of the Wake County School Board. The stakes are pretty high this Election Day because of one race in particular, the runoff election of District 3 between Kevin Hill and Heather Losurdo, and, to me, this particular race seems extra strange.

First, officially, the school board is supposed to be non-partisan. Of course, that all changed in 2009 when Republican backed candidates took over the board with the help of their financial supporters, notably businessman Art Pope who is notorious for funding puppet candidates who support his own agenda. District 3’s election is no different. Hill is being challenged by a candidate who not only spoke at a Tea Party rally, but was also president of the Northern Wake Republican Club.

Via Rob Schofield over at the Pulse:

The North Carolina Court of Appeals today found that the Wake County School Board violated the state Open Meetings Act by intentionally excluding the public from meetings about the county’s diversity policy last year.

Let the sunshine in, baby.

Or thousands of students will lose accreditation:

Saying the Wake County school board has created a climate of uncertainty and mistrust in the community, the accreditation agency AdvancEd has placed Wake County high schools on "accreditation warned" status, giving the system a year to fix a series of issues or risking losing accreditation.

Hopefully it won't take a year for the board to figure out what's more important: Ideology and pride, or the future hopes and dreams of the students in their charge.

Exploring violations of NC's Open Meetings Law:

The N.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday will hear arguments about the outcome of a lawsuit that accuses the Wake County school board of violating the state's open meetings law during its efforts to eliminate the use of diversity in student assignments.

There's no doubt that Margiotta and his cohort attempted to skirt the law to keep "animals" out of these meetings, but there is doubt the COA will be able to see through Kieran Shanahan's smokescreen clearly enough to make the proper finding.

The march to mediocrity for Wake schools continues:

If the system drops AdvancED accreditation, what will happen?

...thousands of young people from across the country apply for college every year from non-accredited institutions and home schools, and they do just fine getting scholarships and admittance to top schools.

Roll up your pant-legs folks, the shit is getting seriously deep. Why don't we take a look at admissions requirements for one of those (neighborhood) top schools:

And as usual, his colleague Debra Goldman is the target:

"We're four, four and one and increasingly that one depends on what she thinks on any given day," said school board member John Tedesco, referring to the Walnut Creek calendar vote.

The word you're thinking of is "flighty", or one who responds to "flights of fancy", an ad hominem attack that reeks of sexism and was oft-used during the suffrage movement to cast doubt about how women would vote, if they were allowed to. It was a disgusting tactic 100 years ago, and it hasn't gotten any less disgusting since.

Just to get this one on the record:

During today's meeting with business leaders, Tata said he would stop doing military and political commentary once he starts working in Wake. His appearances on Fox News and writings on conservative blogs drew complaints from some critics.

Go ahead and get it out of your system now, Tony, because there's nothing I love more than catching Wingers in flip-floppity lies like this. Okay, there are other things I love more, like my children, other family members, friends, animals of all sorts, the smell of freshly-brewed coffee, girls who stumble a little in high heels, sunshowers, the cool side of a pillow, peaches, the first sight of the ocean when you walk over the dune...

The N&O Editorial staff hits another homer:

Moonlighting as a commentator on television or as a current-affairs blogger, as has been his practice, would not be a good fit with his new job. And yet, the school board majority that hired Tata - a bloc aligned with area Republicans - appears to have put no such limits on his activities. So he should give them up voluntarily.

Anthony Tata can make one of his first important decisions as superintendent before he even gets here at the end of January, by saying he will be giving up the pancake makeup and the hot lights and the blogging keyboard to focus on the very big job ahead.

Might need to curtail his booksigning tours as well, unless his next novel is titled Budget Threat.