GARNER - Forty-eight hours after warning that John Tedesco would resegregate Wake County schools, school board candidate Cathy Truitt endorsed her rival last Wednesday and asked that the runoff election be cancelled.

Standing next to Tedesco at a news conference, Truitt said she no longer is worried that the new school board majority's support for neighborhood schools will lead to the resegregation she so pointedly warned about during her campaign.

She said she's taking Tedesco at his word that he will find a way to have diversity and parental choice in a system built around children going to schools in their community.

"Parents, you can tell your children you're safe, you are cared for," Truitt said. "We will not go back to resegregated schools."

Truitt also submitted a letter last Wednesday to the Wake County Board of Elections rescinding her request for a Nov. 3 runoff election. She had requested the runoff on Oct. 7, a day after she received less than half of Tedesco's votes to finish second.