Hamilton County commissioners did the right thing Wednesday when they voted Sherrie Guinn Ford to be the District 11 member on the Hamilton County Board of Education.
To have appointed anyone else would have been a slap in the face to the citizens of the district. Commissioners could not — and did not — find a candidate who matched the 35 years of experience the appointee had with Hamilton County Schools.
For many of those years, as the board’s administrative assistant, she sat in every meeting and was privy to every action the board took. Unlike any of the other candidates, she is already familiar with the panel’s policies and procedures and will be able to hit the ground running.
Yes, in fact, the Republican Ford was the loser by 137 votes in the 2024 county general election to Democrat Jill Black, but Black and her family have since left the country for her husband’s job in Canada. The fact that Ford drew 48% of the vote in that race also should count for something.
Not surprisingly, commission Democrats, who thought it was their right to replace a Democrat board member with a Democrat board member, were upset about the vote.