On Oct. 11, Wake County voters threw out the present school board chair and elected members dedicated to crafting educational policy based on evidence and sound practice rather than ideological slogans.

The current narrow majority, now a lame-duck faction egged on by the superintendent, insisted on ramming through a radical change in school assignment policy that remains vague on crucial details such as feeder patterns between schools and projected transportation costs. No one on the board ever stated a convincing reason for voting on such a drastic policy change while the future composition of the board is not yet finalized. There is no evidence that any student would be harmed if a new assignment plan was launched a year later .

The vote undermined incoming board members by denying them a role in the decision-making process and saddling them with a policy riddled with troubling questions. It was also a slap in the face of thousands of citizens who voted resoundingly for a policy of careful analysis.

David Zonderman

Cary