He had to go

The Wake County school board has always been nonpartisan and is still officially nonpartisan. The partisan divide that now exists was started in 2009 when the Republican Party openly supported school board candidates and won a 5-4 board majority.

That majority had one single over-arching goal -- to end “diversity” as a factor in student assignment and install a “choice” plan. These board members were ideologues with an agenda. They listened to no one, curtailed public participation and changed the process whenever it suited them. They ruled the board with a succession of 5-4 votes.

Tony Tata was elected superintendent by one of those votes. He, too, was a right-wing ideologue. His only previous school management experience was in the Washington, D.C. system where he was chief operating officer.

In 2011, both parties backed candidates. The Democrat-backed candidates won a 5-4 board majority. Meanwhile, it became obvious that the Republican choice plan was not working and that some changes had to be made. Tata has not shown that he can work effectively with the new board majority; to the contrary, he has clashed with several of them publicly.

The board acted responsibly by firing Tata. There was really no other choice.

Peter Andrews,

Louisburg