Happy New Year, Wake County Schools!

News hit this a.m. that the embattled Wake County school district has a new superintendent, former Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata. His hiring was apparently conducted under a cloak of secrecy by the 5-member Republican majority. The special meeting called yesterday to finalize the hiring was sprung on the Democratic minority with 48 hours notice.

Tata's background in education policy and performance seems thin. During the last phase of his time as a general with the military, he spent some time at the Broad Superintendents Academy, a Los Angeles nonprofit institute that trains former generals, CEOs, and others to lead large school systems. With that training under his belt, Tata joined the District of Columbia for an 18-month stint as an operations officer in charge of procurement and other mainly non-academic responsibilities.

A letter-writer in the N&O this a.m. suggested that if an ex-general can be trained to be a school administrator after only 10 months of "instruction," then perhaps ex-school teachers can be trained as generals in a similar period.

Tata's outspoken conservative political views might appear to be his chief attractions for the Republicans on the Wake County Board. Tata has appeared frequently on Fox News, writes political thrillers, and recently said of Sarah Palin after reading her book,

"The recurrent thought in my mind was that this woman is far more qualified to be president of the United States than the current occupant of the White House."

Whatever, Dude. If everything's going to hell, might as well take the rocket toboggan as the stairs.