In wake of board's difficult decision, right person is in charge of schools

How difficult it must have been for local Board of Education members to determine it was better to spend some $141,000 than to allow our cash-strapped schools to continue what officials perceived as a downward spiral under what they termed a failure of leadership by Superintendent Mack McCary.

How interesting that three of the board members who fired him Friday are three of the officials who hired him three years ago.

How unfortunate that our county's first-ever superintendent who was not a native or had not lived here prior to being hired turned out to be a "bad fit." We don't think it's McCary's fault, but we do believe this mismatch was destined to fail.

McCary's first controversial move, which occurred less than four months into his tenure here, was to switch two assistant principals. A number of parents and teachers protested and complained to the newspaper. When we called McCary to ask about the matter, he termed the widespread community interest "more than strange" and said that typically "you don't get this kind of response just by swapping two assistant principals."

It was clear right then that he didn't understand people in Jackson County. That fact was cited by school officials ("lack of rapport with parents of students") in the statement they issued Friday. Another point made by board members was that McCary spent too much time at meetings outside the county that didn't relate to improving local schools.

In Acting Superintendent Sue Nations, named Friday to head county schools for the foreseeable future, school officials have endorsed McCary's polar opposite.

A Jackson County native, Nations graduated from Sylva-Webster High in 1965 and pursued her undergraduate and graduate education in Cullowhee. She taught fourth grade at Fairview for 14 years, was assistant principal at SMHS for four years and principal at Fairview for nine. Her focus is on this county's classrooms and the children and teachers who occupy them.

"I know that the real power, the real impact on student achievement is in the schools, and it is with the everyday, ordinary activities that translate into the extraordinary," Nations wrote in a letter to school system personnel.

During her years at Fairview, Nations won praise for her ability to foster a sense of community at the school, and for the spirit of kindness and cooperation that persists at the K-8 school.

When asked for a comment Monday, she sent us a copy of the same letter she sent to school system personnel, and when asked about her plans, she quoted her former principal, Bill Smith, and said, "We're just going to have school."

We've heard concern about the money that will be spent to buy out McCary's contract, and those questions are legitimate.

We contend school officials could go a long way toward winning community support by tightening the purse strings and dividing the assistant superintendent's duties - at least for the next year - among those already at the Central Office in order to avoid another high-priced administrator.

Nations can do the job. Let's get on with having school and educating this county's children.