Segregationists swept from school board in North Carolina.

When Republicans took control of the Wake County school board in North Carolina, their first agenda item was to restore segregated schools.

Yesterday, the Republicans were swept from office following two years of protests.

Incumbent Wake County school board member Kevin Hill defeated challenger Heather Losurdo in a runoff Tuesday to complete a Democratic sweep that knocks Republicans out of power after a turbulent two-year reign.

Hill’s victory in District 3 ended a half-million-dollar, high-profile battle over control of Wake County’s 146,000-student system.

The nationally publicized fight for the school board had become a proxy for political control of the county and beyond, drawing close scrutiny from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

When President Barack Obama made a stop at an Apex business, local Republicans saw it as a bid to influence the school board race.

In unofficial election totals, Hill had 52.28 percent of the vote Tuesday. The runoff was triggered after he came 51 votes shy of a majority in the Oct. 11 general election.

The NAACP, which was a leader in the fight against segregating Wake County schools, responded to the election results:

The Republican majority’s changes, particularly eliminating the diversity policy, sparked protests and arrests over the past two years.

The Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, hailed the results as a step forward. Barber’s complaints triggered a federal investigation of Wake and a review of the accreditation of the district’s high schools.

“Parents, grandparents, teachers, students and community members rejected candidates who support regressive public policy that leads to resegregation of our public schools,” Barber said in a written statement Tuesday.

While the Democrat sweep represents a rejection of Republican and Tea Party plans, the redistricting issue is not entirely settled.

After all the acrimony, newly elected Democratic school board member Christine Kushner said “my goal is to return the school board to dull and boring.”

Not likely.