Choose a candidate, please

The Rockingham County school board will interview all 13 people who applied to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Dr. Jim Austin. 
Austin died in early June, and the board won’t interview the candidates until Aug. 27. The interviews are scheduled for 2 p.m. at the central office in Eden. By the way, they are open to the public, and we encourage residents to attend.
In November, the board will choose members for six seats, though the makeup of the board probably won’t change much. Seven incumbents are running, and the board – which will have two fewer people—can get no more than three new members. The person who gets Austin’s seat will be up for re-election next year.
The board needs some new blood, not only to offer a different perspective but hopefully to provide some calm and reason to a board that all too often digresses into a pattern of bickering that, many times, involves political agendas.
Look no further than this past Monday, when board members argued over a law giving the county commissioners final approval over the board seat as well as the number of candidates to recommend. The board also entertained the notion that, if the names of all 13 applicants were sent to the county board, the commissioners would continue to eliminate candidates until they landed on their own preordained choice to replace Austin.
Thankfully, board Vice Chair Amanda Bell brought some reason to the debate.
“I think the county commissioners are professional people. They serve on a board, and I think they would do the right thing,” she said. “I cannot even imagine them sending 12 names back. I can’t imagine them doing that, so let’s just not jump to conclusions.”
The board, though not unanimously, decided to interview all 13 applicants and send one name to the commissioners, which, obviously, gives the county board little choice in the matter. It’s much easier for the commissioners to choose among three or more applicants than to approve or veto one.
We’ll be lucky if a candidate is chosen before the November election. If not, a whole new set of problems arise. We implore the board to use good judgment and to dismiss political and personal agendas when choosing a candidate to send to the commissioners. But, as we know, there are no guarantees.