Starting over: The rules show what you say comes back to bite you

There are rules that go along with human interaction.

Observe them and there is potential for cooperation that can lead to bigger and better things.

Break them and the road is rocky and full of pitfalls and distrust.

And that is exactly what was happening in the continuing discussions between the county commissioners and the Wayne County Board of Education.

There were too many comments and criticisms hanging around in the air for there ever to be just a simple meeting between the two groups.

So it is no surprise that the school board members came in with more than a little bone to pick with the current slate of county leaders.

After all, when you come out and say that a board is "slack" and is not doing its job -- and they heard you say it -- you can't really expect that they will be ready to accept your opinions or to join hands for a round of "Kumbaya."

And the school board members were right to stand up, to tell the commissioners that they are in charge of education in Wayne County -- and to take issue with comments that implied that their membership does not know what it is doing and that it is not responsibly managing county money.

The board of education in a county is in charge of the schools, period. They were elected to be in charge and statutes dictate that they -- and only they -- are the last word on how those schools will be run.

That is the law. Those are the rules, and it is high time that someone get it through county leaders' heads that they have plenty on their own plate and they need to leave other boards alone to do their jobs.

Summoning the school board to a sneak attack, hiring an architect to create a plan without consulting the school board and then trying to deny stuff you said when you forgot everybody was listening, is no way to create an environment that would result in the best possible education and facilities for Wayne County students.

Commissioners love to throw rocks at school districts, pointing to all the "waste" they see.

Truth is there is plenty of recently added waste on the commissioners' side of the fence -- including the pricey television station with the miniscule audience, new equipment and a van to cart it around with and a public relations manager recently created so the commission would not have to talk to the media.

The money spent on that could buy all sorts of classroom supplies and maybe even pay for a teacher's assistant or two.

Now, all that said, there is nothing wrong with a collaboration between the county and the school district when it comes to facility planning. A real, respectful discussion and review of the issues might spawn an idea that could make a big difference for Wayne County's schools, especially in light of the recent state and federal budget cuts.

This is a tough time, with lots of big decisions ahead and everyone should understand the stakes -- including the commission.

At the end of this week's gathering, members of the school board and the commissioners shook hands and vowed to put aside the past as they work to create the best possible schools for the county's children.

And we believe there was sincerity on both sides, so we will watch to see what happens. Maybe all that was needed was a clearing of the air.

But just in case, here's a reminder. If you insist on filming yourself at every opportunity; if you insist on having "meetings" or discussions that are borderline unethical because they exclude other members of the board and just barely skirt the open meetings laws; and if you say one thing in public and another in private, you will not be able to create an environment of anything that even closely resembles a cooperative effort with the betterment of Wayne County as its goal.

Moving forward requires respect and the understanding that no matter how smart you think you are, there is always someone with a better idea or a piece of information you might not be aware of or might not have considered.

Learning to lead from the back and communicating humility and willingness to learn are critical to a successful administration of any kind.

Respect breeds respect. That is a tenet of human interaction that has stood the test of time and will continue to be the way to go when it comes to leading a county.

Let's hope this is the first step in just such a change.

Published in Editorials on August 3, 2013 10:56 PM