The Wake County School Board’s new conservative majority faced strident criticism Tuesday night after pushing through a series of impromptu agenda items that weren’t announced until the meeting began.
But the newly seated board members say the items had been discussed and vetted thoroughly during their campaigns for office, and other school board members or the public shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Everybody looks at every little action as if the dam is about to break,” said Chris Malone, who represents northeast Wake County. “We were setting forth the goals of where we’re going in the future.”
John Tedesco, a school board member from southeast Wake County, said the board already had discussed a number of the agenda items in the past.
“It’s something that everybody knew was coming, something we had promised for six months,” he said. “If anything, it’s people not used to politicians who actually keep their promises.”
The school board’s four newest members — Tedesco, Deborah Prickett, Debra Goldman, and Malone — came out of the gate running, approving resolutions that could alter long-standing policies ranging from mandatory reassignments to diversity busing.
The new majority wasted no time in voting in Goldman as vice chair and district 8 representative Ron Margiotta as chair, unseating board member Kevin Hill, who had served six months in that position.
The board also acted quickly on seven other unannounced agenda items, including resolutions to cut off spending on a controversial school site in northeast Raleigh and to end early release Wednesdays, dubbed “Wacky Wednesdays.”
That drew fire from opponents who saw it as a way to bypass public input. The crowd, mostly composed of representatives from teachers unions, civil rights groups, and advocacy organizations, moaned and groaned at many of the changes.
During an hour-long public comment period, some of those in attendance gave the new school board a tongue-lashing.
“What you did tonight was irresponsible,” said Diana Bader, secretary of the North Carolina Parent Teacher Association. “You added items to the agenda that the parents, business, and community have not even looked at. Your board members have not even looked at. You’re asking us to make public comments on items that we have not even seen.”
Hill also objected to the new agenda items. “This is a process that’s very new to the school board, where essentially half the board members are not privy to information prior to the start of the meeting,” he said.
But Bob Luddy, a Raleigh businessman and school choice advocate who attended the meeting Tuesday, said in a telephone interview that he was pleased with the board’s quick action, and that it wasn’t too much, too soon.
“The new board is moving on a number of issues that the voters wanted to happen, so it’s a good, positive start,” he said.
The school board took action on two of the hottest issues during the election — forced reassignments to year-round schools and diversity-based busing, the latter of which aims to mix students who qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program with students from wealthier families.
The board voted to study which year-round schools should be converted back to a traditional calendar and approved sending to a policy committee a revised student assignment plan that cuts busing and emphasizes neighborhood schools.
The board also approved an audit of contracts with Tharrington Smith LLP, a law firm that for years has served as legal counsel for the school board.
The four new members won elections in October and November by double digits in campaigns that often turned vicious. Much of the debate focused on parental choice versus racial diversity.
At the meeting Tuesday, Tedesco said what they accomplished was just “the tip of the iceberg,” and that much more was in store.
“We promised things to Wake County, and we’re going to start delivering,” he said.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.