CARY — The Democratic chairman and vice chairman of the Wake County School Board said Wednesday that former superintendent Tony Tata had lost the confidence of board members and senior leaders before he was fired by the school system.

A majority on the nine-member board voted Tuesday to dismiss Tata, with the vote breaking along party lines. The five Democrats voted to fire Tata, with the four Republicans opposed.

“We’ve had a disastrous start of the school year and implementation of our assignment plan,” school board chairman Kevin Hill said. “We have had a mess with transportation that we have tried for weeks and weeks to resolve.”

Hill also responded to questions about his endorsement of Tata early in his tenure, which began in January 2011. At that time, Hill said, Tata was successful at calming the waters on the troubled board.

“At this point, it was my opinion and that of the majority of the members of the board that he might not be the right person to lead the board,” Hill said.

Board vice chairman Keith Sutton said board members were very concerned at the administration’s release last week of projected address assignments — part of an in-process new assignment plan — without any board members seeing them.

“That was a huge concern to several board members,” Sutton said.

Goldsmith: 919-829-8929