By Roslyn Ryan, Editor
editor@powhatantoday.com

It didn’t take a thesaurus to come up with words to describe the atmosphere in the room during last week’s joint meeting between the Powhatan school board and the board of supervisors.

Tense comes to mind, as does strained, stressed and anxious.

This makes sense, of course. The leaders in the front of the room certainly must have realized — if the number of men and women sitting in the audience, mostly teachers worried about their incomes, was any indication — that the problem they face is serious.

But, sadly, there were other words that came to mind as well, particularly when it came to some of the comments made by a few of the county leaders in attendance.

Bluster. Speechifying. Showmanship.

Using a bad situation for political gain is about as old as making lemonade from life’s proffered lemons. But many of those in attendance likely found it disturbing, as I did, to hear what appeared at times to be somewhat empty rhetoric tossed about concerning teachers’ jobs.

I may end up looking like a fool here, but this all sounds just a bit too familiar to me; I can’t help but feel as though I’ve heard this same song before.

There was little doubt after the meeting that county leaders genuinely care about saving jobs. But the time for action is quickly drawing near.

Something must be done to save teachers’ jobs and, should that not be possible, the people who are going to be let go need to be told — immediately.

Please, county leaders, for the sake of the people you were elected to serve, don’t drag this out.

Vowing to save teachers’ jobs certainly sounds wonderful, but so does eradicating hunger, stopping child abuse, and patching the hole in the ozone layer.

Don’t say it if you can’t make it happen. And if you can make it happen, make it happen soon.