Board's chance at fresh start

The Monroe City School Board needs strong leadership as it navigates the shoals it faces.

The board stands in a strange place halfway between being in contempt of court and being declared a unitary system, thereby escaping federal oversight in a longstanding desegregation case.

At this time, perhaps more than ever, the board needs to demonstrate maturity and unity, to speak with one voice, to show black and white board members are able to work together for a common good.

Whether by design or just through happenstance, the resignation of Brenda Shelling as the board’s vice president offers the board a golden opportunity.

Shelling resigned as the board's vice president at a meeting, although she remains on the board, after she alleged the rest of the board members kept her out of the loop before President Rodney McFarland and member Vickie Dayton traveled to Washington to meet  with the U.S. Department of Justice.

She also says she plans to file a complaint with the Department of Justice, believing the meeting was illegal because the board did not approve of it in advance. In January, however, she saw no problems when board members Bill Willson, Jennifer Haneline and Vickie Dayton said they felt they were being excluded from discussions about the consent decree, including discussions Shelling and McFarland were having with the Department of Justice.

Her resignation removes from board leadership a most divisive voice.

Time and again, Shelling has lashed out at her fellow board members. Within the past two months:

• She lashed out at board President Rodney McFarland, a minister, saying he didn’t know what prayer is.
• She was the lone dissenting vote in renewing Superintendent Brent Vidrine’s contract in the face of overwhelming community support and improving school performance.
• She has called out a fellow school board member as a “racist pig.”
• In stepping out of a recent executive session, she knocked over a school board member’s nameplate before returning to the meeting.

While we don’t believe there’s been a conspiracy on the board to diminish Shelling’s role, her resignation as vice president provides the board a chance to start fresh. She has left chaos and bad feelings in her wake. Perhaps the board can proceed in calmer waters.

Until the board’s next meeting, Dayton, a white school board member, will serve as vice president based on board tenure. Retaining her for the remainder of the year might be wise, because the board can present to the Department of Justice the picture of biracial partnership that could hasten closure to the consent decree.

But even if the board chooses someone else, the result should be more palatable to the DOJ and the federal court than the name-calling the board has been experiencing.