Board must face its real challenges

There is never a good time for a Board of Education to get bogged down in infighting and power struggles.

Considering the issues currently facing the Red Bank Board of Education, this would have to be a particularly bad time.

With the school year looming, two administrative positions to fill and construction under way at the middle school, any distraction may be more than the district can bear.

Board members need to look back over the last few years and recognize just how much they have accomplished.

From improving test scores to upgrading its facilities, the school district is showing progress unlike anything seen in decades.

Having lost two important supervisors, the board needs to take stock and consider just how important the supervisors that remain are to keeping things on the right track.

Despite a health problem that prevented him from doing even more, Dr. J. Michael Rush has led the district in a dramatic revival.

He has worked hard to change both perceptions and reality in the district and that work is paying off.

All the board members need to reassess their own roles and question whose best interests they’re acting in. If they are not putting the entire district’s best interests first, they need to reconsider what they are doing.

There is certainly room for disagreement about what exactly the best way is to go about the board’s business.

When that happens things will work best if members question themselves before someone else does it.

The board does not have to be unified, it just has to be professional.