Members of Franklin’s City Council have gone to great lengths in recent years to absolve themselves of responsibility for the performance of the city’s school board. It is a seemingly odd position to take since it is the city council’s responsibility to appoint school board members in the first place, but somewhat understandable considering the board’s overall performance in recent years.

Council went so far as to bring an attorney from Richmond in October of 2013 to address council and community members on council’s limited options when it came to involvement with the school board, specifically with respect to their ability to remove a school board member mid-term. I was of the opinion then, and maintain the same opinion today, that it was merely an attempt by certain council members to provide political cover and a coward’s way out of having to deal with a difficult situation.

With the time approaching for city council members to vote on school board nominees, the luxury of such cover no longer exists.

The facts pertaining to the Franklin School Board’s job performance have been well documented in this newspaper and in this very column for several years now. There is a mountain of evidence to support the notion that the board’s greatest shortcomings have stemmed from a lack of competent leadership. No less an authority than the State Board of Education agrees, having placed not only the school system but the school board itself under state review. Its findings were not flattering, pointing to what amounts to a pattern of systemic incompetence. One only needs to view video from any of the many state school board meetings regarding Franklin’s schools to see what would lead them to that conclusion.

A Franklin resident has nominated school board chairwoman Edna King for a third term as the city’s at-large member on the school board. In her nomination statement, Debroah Faulk stated, “She’s (King) been part of the vast improvements in the school system. I feel Mrs. Edna King should be given the opportunity to continue to be a part of the improvement of the Franklin City Public Schools system.” With all due respect to Ms. Faulk, the jury is still out on whether there has been any real improvement in the school system at all, let alone if the improvement has been vast. Frankly, Mrs. King’s time on the board has directly coincided with the period during which the school system has reached its status as being among the poorest performing divisions in the state.

A choice now exists for city council with regard to the school board’s at-large position: chart a new path forward or stay the course. It is this columnist’s opinion that it is time for city council to set politics aside and make a change.

Tony Clark is publisher of The Tidewater News. His email address is tony.clark@tidewaternews.com.