What is more important to us than our children, their safety, their welfare, their development and their future success?
Most of that begins, of course, at home. But at a young age, our precious girls and boys are surrendered for a large part of each day to our schools. We trust, and hope, that the teachers, principals, school board members and the superintendent of our public schools will do everything they reasonably can to supplement what we do at home to assure the best for our children.
Schools are clearly important. So it also is important, as our community is considering a new school superintendent, for us to have the best. A superintendent has tremendous influence.
We surely want someone with excellent character, good judgment, a pleasing personality and other good professional and personal characteristics. A local candidate also is generally preferable. A local individual has a greater personal investment and stake in the success of our schools, as compared with someone who is less familiar with our community.
Unfortunately, these decisions often stir contention and political controversy, rather than foster a nurturing atmosphere of friendly, intelligent, capable people dedicated to launching our precious youngsters toward success.