R-C News-Herald Editorial

We’re all waiting patiently and trusting for the best.

As the Bertie County Board of Education nears the end of the search for a new superintendent of schools, the community can only hope the leader will be the right one for the district.

Time has passed now and it is the right time to bury the dissention of the past. Those who favored the previous superintendent and those who did not must both move forward.

There are four members of the Bertie County Board of Education that were duly elected by the voting public. The fifth member was appointed as provided by law when there is a vacancy. That means all of them rightly obtained their seats.

It is true that some Bertie County citizens have been publicly critical of the school board. It is also true that the majority of the citizens have not. It likely is the same majority that voted in the members currently sitting on the board.

Since the five members n Rickey Freeman, Melinda Eure, Al Parker, Gloria Lee and Emma Johnson n are the duly elected representatives of the people of the county, it is their sworn duty to see this search through to the best conclusion possible.

We are a diverse people in Bertie County with many personal and political opinions. We have divisions of personality, religion, race and politics, but we are one people.

If we all truly want what is best for the children of Bertie County, we must all come together now to make sure we move forward with that goal first and foremost in our minds.

A new superintendent is coming, hopefully sooner rather than later. Whether that superintendent is male or female, black or white, old or young, native or newcomer, it is vital that we all gather behind them and move forward.

The politics must be put to the side and the children brought to the forefront. The truth is that politics has been the most important thing to many in Bertie County. The children have been an afterthought, something to mention merely as a way of pushing a political agenda. That must end.

We don’t know who the new superintendent will be. Hopefully, it will be someone who is sharp, insightful and has a world of ideas that will make the county’s schools better. It matters not where they come from, what they look like or how many letters they have behind their name.

Bertie County’s education system is going to get one more chance, likely its last if improvement doesn’t come, to start over. We must do it together with an open mind and a heart full of love for the children of the county.