By now, we feel sure the embarrassing blush and egg has been wiped from the collective faces of the Scotland County Board of Education and its members realize exactly what they should have done from the very beginning.
On Monday, though it legally didn’t need to vote on the issue, the school board nodded in agreement with a proposal from Superintendent Ron Hargrave for what was thought to be the only graduation plan available for the Class of 2020.
Since Hargrave was relying on the OK from the Scotland County Health Department and Scotland Health Care System, there seemed to be some justification in making the decision for graduation services that would be spread over a handful of days starting next week.
Except Hargrave and the board forgot one important ingredient: parents. Which means all the bases had been covered except home, literally.
Within 48 hours, a petition that quickly grew to more than 300 signatures was being circulated and word of mouth that chastised the decision was running rampant.
We will pause here to applaud those parents and graduating seniors who pushed back. They did things the right way and forced the local school board to reconsider its decision. Y’all basically “fought city hall” and, regardless of what gets decided now, y’all won.
As for the school board, well … shame on you. Someone should have said no.
We understand that a decision concerning how graduation will be shaped, as well as when and where, is pretty much unilaterally up to the high-school principals and superintendent. And we also understand just how challenging the coronavirus pandemic has made events that feature large gatherings.
But in the beginning, there at least seemed to be an indication that parents and even seniors would be involved in the final decision for graduation. They were, however, bypassed.
On Thursday, the school board made the only reasonable decision it could by voting to rescind the Monday OK of graduation plans and reconvene a committee that will, this time, include parents and students.
That alone should bring fresh ideas and thoughts, hopefully some that are outside the box, so that the Class of 2020 can experience a graduation closer to the norm and still be safe. There is a good idea out there, and we hope they find it — whether it includes seniors inside Pate Stadium practicing social distancing while parents watch virtually from home, or even just holding off on graduation until later in the summer, but before college begins.
If there is a lesson to be learned here by our elected school board members, it is that they should refrain from ever simply giving a blind nod in agreement to any proposal that directly affects students but excludes parental input.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Before you agree, THINK … is it True; is it Helpful; is it Inspiring; is it Necessary; is it Kind?”