Political Controversy Roils NC School System at Center of Resegregation Fight
Political Controversy Roils NC School System at Center of Resegregation Fight
The North Carolina public school system whose innovative and nationally lauded desegregation policy was targeted for elimination by conservative activists is embroiled in fresh controversy, as the new Democratic-led school board majority has fired the superintendent hired by the previous Republican-controlled board.
The move complicates relations with the Republican-led county commission that funds the schools — and that could mean trouble for the fast-growing district, which was created by the legislature’s forced 1976 merger of the largely white Wake County school system and the largely minority Raleigh City schools.
The Wake County School Board voted this week to fire Superintendent Tony Tata — a former U.S. Army Brigadier General, military fiction writer and conservative commentator — after less than two years into his four-year contract. Tata previously served as the chief operating officer of the Washington, D.C. public schools under controversial former chancellor Michelle Rhee, known for her aggressive reform efforts and anti-union sentiments. Tata is a graduate of Broad Superintendents Academy, a program founded by businessman, philanthropist and school reform advocate Eli Broad to train corporate executives, military leaders and other non-educators to lead public school systems.
Board leaders blamed the firing on strained relationships with Tata and problems with bus logistics and a botched rollout of a new school assignment plan. He leaves with a severance package of $253,625 to cover a year’s salary and other costs. His temporary replacement is Stephen Gainey, the district’s human resources chief.
The latest political unrest roiling North Carolina’s largest school system can be traced back to 2009, when elections were held for four of nine officially nonpartisan school board seats. Conservative candidates won all of those races, joining an ally already on the board to create a new conservative majority. The acknowledged architect of the conservative takeover was former state Rep. Art Pope — a businessman, leading conservative donor, and backer of groups that advocate school privatization. Pope is also a national director of the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, whose North Carolina chapter worked on behalf of the conservative candidates.