It is obvious that the members of the school board of Jackson Public Schools are hell bent on completely destroying a school system that has suffered from a lack of competent leadership for quite a while.

Clearly, the school board does not understand its role as a policymaking body. Instead, the board appears to be doing everything it can to wrestle the day-to-day administration of the schools away from Superintendent Dr. Lonnie Edwards.

To illustrate the point, for the last several months, Dr. Edwards has been trying to put his administrative team together and move the schools in a positive direction. His efforts have been met with resistance and downright hostility from board members.

During one of the many marathon board meetings, on Monday, September 21, 2009, the board’s behavior toward the superintendent was unprofessional, embarrassing, and utterly disrespectful. The meeting began around 5:30 p.m. and lasted past midnight. During approximately four hours in executive session, the board refused to approve Dr. Edwards’ recommendations to fill key administrative vacancies.

So what should be done to prevent this dysfunctional board from continuing to be a stumbling block in the path of a superintendent who wants to do the right thing for students, parents, and the community?

For starters, Mayor Harvey Johnson and the city council should immediately appoint new members to the board who understand that the role of the board is to make policies, support the superintendent, and develop appropriate goals for long term improvements in all of the schools.

The board must also give the superintendent the opportunity to select his administrative team and hold him accountable for positive results. Additionally, the board must refrain from allowing stakeholders to come to them on matters that should be handled by the superintendent and his administrative team.

Finally, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community should voice their displeasure with the actions of the board in trying to micromanage the superintendent.

The education of our students and the effective use of our tax dollars are too important for us to sit back and do nothing in support of Dr. Edwards. We must not be idle spectators and watch our school system be destroyed by the school board.