The June 12th meeting of the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board was wrapping up.  All the items on the agenda were completed and I was awaiting a motion to adjourn.

Something else happened.  The board Vice President (and acting President) Sylvia Shepler announced that she wished to read a statement.  The statement she read, on behalf of the entire board, was essentially an apology to the community the school corporation serves with a promise to do better in the future.

I must admit I was very surprised by this statement.  I have written a few commentaries about our school board, mainly about how board members have not always lived up to the high standards set by the teaching staff and students.  Basically, there have been cases where the board has botched the public handling of many controversies.

After listening to the statement and reviewing the written copy, I needed to think it through before offering my reaction.  Well, here it is.

I won’t list all the instances where, in my view, the board has not lived up to the high reputation the HSE Schools generally have around the state.  But this board statement could well be the start of changes that will improve the board’s reputation.

It is rare that an elected public body issues the kind of apology read at the June 12th school board meeting.  But the HSE Board admitted where it had gone wrong, how it had brought the criticism on itself, and understands its past errors.

I have sometimes been among those critics and must commend the board for issuing that statement.  It wasn’t just the apology, which appears to be very sincere, but most important is the promise to do better moving forward.

Any of us in need of improvement must clear an important hurdle first – we must admit the mistakes we have made.  Members of the HSE School Board have done that.

Now the test will be how the board acts in the future.  As a reporter covering the school board for more than seven years, I have had the opportunity to get to know each of the board members.  Personally, I might have a few differences with some of those board members, but in nearly every case, each ran for the office with the right reason in mind….to improve the education of each student in the HSE District.

The board has a major decision to make at the next board session June 26th – name a replacement for Mike Bottorff, who resigned his board seat in late May.  There are four finalists that were interviewed by the board in an open meeting June 18th.  It is very important that the board select the right person to replace Mr. Bottorff.  After watching the open interview session, any of the four would likely make an excellent replacement to fill-out the term, which ends on December 31, 2019.

So, HSE School Board, you have my compliments on admitting the mistakes of the past.  I would urge each of you to fulfill the promise of your statement – “We can and will do better.”