Congratulations to District 51 school board members — not only for finding a good fit to replace outgoing Superintendent Steve Schultz — but for affirming our faith that they would take this hiring seriously and objectively.

Board member John Williams created a discomforting wrinkle by applying for the superintendent’s job without surrendering his board seat. Williams — a lawyer who has never worked in an educational setting — recused himself from board duties related to the job search. Even so, his fellow board members found themselves in the awkward position of defending Williams’ selection as one of four finalists while fending off grumblings of a “good old boy” network pulling strings.

The experience was “ostracizing and stilted,” Williams conceded. Board members said they were extremely sensitive to the perception of a conflict of interest. In the end, they avoided the appearance of impropriety by unanimously voting to pursue a contract with Ken Haptonstall, the superintendent of Garfield County School District 16 who cut his teeth in District 51.

Read more at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.