The conversations about closing schools and saving money for the Selma City School System is past due, but in plenty of time that the school board can recover.

When it meets next week, the school board would be well advised to set firm dates to begin those conversations about closing the schools and why those particular schools would benefit the district closed rather than others.

It would also help the public — everyone — to have access to the numbers of how the savings would work out, broken down by school. People will have many questions. Tempers will flare. Positions will be taken.

Yet, the school board once again is taking the tough position head-on and involving the public. This is a good sign.

It is not easy for an elected body to open very public conversations about hard decisions. The school board should be commended for taking this action.

However, it would behoove members of the school board to be candid and explicit in reasons for and against the proposals made for the school system. All the openness in the world brings nothing to the table if the numbers are not firm and the reasons for setting certain policy are not grounded in fact — very publicly accessible fact.

Now is not the time to put a positive spin on the school system’s financial situation. Neither is it the time to wave a red flag to incite fear among city residents.

The school board also must remember the many people who do not have children in the schools, but have stakes as taxpayers and property owners in a solvent public education system.

If the school board takes seriously this mission and works through the issues, the outcome, while not pleasant, at least will be understandable.