By Staff
May 11, 2003
The appointment and immediate confirmation of retired businessman George Meyers to fill a vacancy on the Meridian School Board is an excellent move on the part of Mayor John Robert Smith and the Meridian City Council. Meyers has the credentials necessary to do a fine job because he comes to the board already well-versed in what needs to be done.
As co-chairman for the past two months of a New Expectations work group named by school board president Fred Wile, Meyers has been instrumental in helping raise the bar for public school students, teachers and administrators. He has a long history of active involvement in many civic activities in Meridian. His input into the search for a new superintendent will be insightful and meaningful.
Some have criticized the appointment because Meyers does not currently have children in the city school system. That's a false argument. There is no such requirement for serving on the school board, nor should there be. In fact, we would argue that a truly independent voice is precisely what's needed.
The Meyers appointment reflects the creative new thinking embraced by the other current school board members. Essentially, it's that the status quo simply isn't good enough to meet the serious challenges of restoring credibility to Meridian public schools.
This sort of thinking should be encouraged as school board members explore new ideas and create new expectations. Meyers' experiences in business and his human resource skills are important additions to a critical task.