The Wake County school board is expected to approve a new student assignment plan Tuesday, although at least one vocal proponent of the proposal is having second thoughts.
A bipartisan majority of school board members say they will support Superintendent Tony Tata's recommendation to approve the plan this week. Tata has told board members and the media that he needs the plan approved as soon as possible to give staff enough time to get it implemented for the 2012-13 school year.
"We've waited long enough," said school board member Chris Malone, a Republican. "We've waited two years. We've been considerate of the entire community. It's time to move forward."
School board member Carolyn Morrison, a Democrat, added that the plan "is in good hands."
But school board Vice Chairman John Tedesco, a Republican, said he's considering voting 'no' now.
Tedesco says he still likes the plan developed by Superintendent Tony Tata and would normally have no hesitation about voting yes on Tuesday. But he said he has been having second thoughts since last week's election results potentially put Democrats in a position to regain the school board majority. If that happens, they could modify Tata's plan to make it "the mother of all busing for diversity plans."
Tedesco's concern is that if the new choice-based plan is approved Tuesday it could be modified by a new Democratic majority to place a higher emphasis on filling schools by student test scores. As currently proposed, Tata's plan would have siblings and proximity rank above student achievement as priorities when reviewing school requests from families.
Some of the new Democratic school board members and people who spoke at a Thursday public hearing about the plan have talked about giving greater weight to the student achievement priority.
"The plan is better than what we have now," Tedesco said of the proposal school board members will vote on Tuesday. "But if the people who are in charge of the controls change, then you could have busing for diversity like you've never seen."
Tedesco said it might be better to use the old assignment system for one more year until it's clear which side is in the majority.
A board in flux
Tedesco's potential change of heart on the new plan is just one of the reverberations from the election last week of four Democratic school board members.
A fifth contest between Democratic incumbent Kevin Hill and Republican challenger Heather Losurdo will likely be decided in a Nov. 8 runoff. The winner will determine which side has a majority on the nine-member board.
Newly elected school board members Susan Evans and Jim Martin, along with several speakers on Thursday, said too many questions exist about the plan for it to be adopted this week. Some speakers suggested delaying the vote until after the runoff election or to when the new members take office Dec. 6.
"The recent election was a call for new leadership," said Chris Aycock of Raleigh, one of Thursday's speakers. "The election also said do not rush, take more time."
School board Chairman Ron Margiotta, who was defeated by Evans, said he anticipated looking Tuesday at making changes such as the designated paths through middle and high school for some elementary schools. But he said he didn't anticipate making the major changes that some speakers advocated.
"We need to finalize this as soon as possible," Margiotta said.
