RALEIGH — The board managing North Carolina's largest school system is locked in a new dispute that could spell the future of the superintendent hired by its former majority of tea-party conservatives.

The Wake County School Board held a closed-door session lasting nearly four hours Monday on a personnel matter. The school board plans to meet again Tuesday.

Republican school board members and GOP activists have urged supporters of Superintendent Tony Tata (TAY-ta) to rally in support of him keeping his job.

A Republican majority school board hired the former Army general in late 2010 to carry out a new classroom assignment plan. GOP board members' decision to scrap the old plan that featured racial diversity led to protests, arrests, a federal civil rights complaint, and a threat to high schools accreditations.