The graduates at Charles Henderson High School aren't the only ones facing difficult decisions about education here in Troy.

The members of the Troy City school board have an even more daunting task

ahead - replacing

retiring Superintendent

Hank Jones.

Faced with shrinking state funding - with

the ever looming threat

of

"proration" - and the challenges of the federally

mandated "No Child Left Behind" standards, the task of piloting the Troy school system isn't an easy one.

Add to that the district's efforts to gain unitary status, and therefore remove some of the federal judicial oversight that has governed the district

for more than 20 years, and the job description grows even more challenging.

The challenge of the school board members will be to select

a visionary leader - one with commitment to

excellence

as well as effective leadership and management ability. The new superintendent

must be willing to make difficult and unpopular decisions, and then to stick by those decisions even amid criticism. He, or she, must be willing to put politics aside and focus on the needs of the students and the goals of the educational system. And he or she must, above all, be effective.

It's a tall order, but we believe the school board is up to the task.