On the Selma City Council’s agenda for Monday night was an item about the city school board.

The city has discussed the way in which school board members are chosen – appointed by the council as opposed to being elected by the citizenry.

Like the Dallas County School Board, the city of Selma board should be elected.

It is the citizens that the school board should answer to, not the city council only.

The control wielded by the city in appointments to the school board is too substantial at this point.

The school board members should be free to make decisions they believe are best for the school system, with no political agenda in my mind.

In districts where the board members are elected, citizens have more input into an aspect of government that is most important to many of them – education.

Students are sent to school for seven hours a day for at least 12 years of their lives.

That’s a lot of time spent in these local classrooms, being molded into the men and women they will become.

It should be the responsibility of the school board, superintendent and administration, as well as principals, teachers and support personnel to ensure these students learn in a safe environment, from the best teachers, in a technologically advanced school system.

It is not, and should not, be the responsibility of the city council or city leaders.

There are plenty of other matters that need their attention.