A critical choice at a critical moment: Allison Pridgen should be frontrunner for her late husband’s school board seat

The Wayne County Board of Education has called a special meeting for Thursday to discuss a vacant spot on the board.

It will not be an easy one to fill — it is the seat the late Rick Pridgen held for more than 18 years.

The board has not released the names of the candidates for the opening, nor has there been any real discussion about qualifications, goals or anything else resembling making the decision public.

And while there is still time for that to come, we thought we would bring it to you — before the interviews and before the vote.

As you can imagine, COVID-19 has changed a lot about how business is being done in Wayne County Public Schools. There are a lot of big decisions to be made about educating the county’s children during this forced statewide school closure — like how to continue to provide for at-risk children and how to handle challenges regarding everything from student services to setting up online learning.

The idea behind the special meeting is to make sure the process of filling Pridgen’s seat moves swiftly to ensure every area of the county has a voice in the decisions that will be made that will affect the children of Wayne County.

We hope so, anyway, and that it’s not an attempt to secure a leaning one way or the other while the community is distracted.

But for now, we are giving the board the benefit of the doubt.

And if the reason its members are, despite ongoing concerns about COVID-19’s impact on WCPS, pushing to expedite this decision to truly give every area of the county a say in the important decisions to come, great — although we hope that every member of the county school board will suspend their individual loyalties to think about what is best for all of the county’s students.

So, since we are talking about the open seat, let’s consider an option.

Since we have zero idea of who all has applied, we cannot possibly compare and contrast merits and qualifications.

We will just assume that no one would end up on the short list unless he or she had been vetted.

But we do think there is one candidate worth considering, seriously.

And when we heard that this particular woman had applied for the vacancy, we felt some things needed to be said.

Normally, being the spouse of a school board member is not an automatic qualification for consideration for an empty board seat — even if your husband was Rick Pridgen.

But Allison Pridgen is more than just Rick’s widow.

She is uniquely positioned to help shape the future of WCPS.

She knows about schools, students and education.

She worked for more than 36 years in the district’s central office, where she advocated for students and staff and led various health and education initiatives, and recently came out of retirement to assist at Goldsboro High School.

She is smart, tough and dedicated to student success and, most importantly, she knows what schools and teachers need to be able to meet the educational needs of the young people WCPS serves.

She isn’t campaigning for the seat. In fact, a request to talk to her about the possibility of her candidacy was politely rejected. She doesn’t want anyone to think she is trying to capitalize on her husband’s record or his memory.

She wants to serve the schools, knows she has the knowledge and commitment to do it, and she hopes that will be enough to get her the seat.

In other words, it is not about her. It is about the students and staff who are the heart of Wayne County schools.

Refreshing, huh?

There has been a lot going on in Wayne County and Goldsboro over the last few months — lots of politics and, frankly, scary attempts at power grabs by people who have questionable motives.

And we have said here many times that the people who are in charge of making decisions for this community hold its future in their hands.

That is why we will be watching all of them — and looking into their decisions, motives and actions as they campaign and take office.

It is too important not to.

So, in the midst of all that drama, it is nice to be able to point to someone who not only has the qualifications, but also the heart, to stand up and fight for the students of Wayne County — all the students.

Her husband did it for nearly two decades.

We think she will carry on his mission and his message.

And right now, frankly, we need people with the experience, the understanding of how schools work and how learning succeeds, and the chutzpah to speak up when politics and power get in the way, no matter who is responsible for the interference.

Allison Pridgen is the person who fits that bill.

However, if the board has a better candidate, that discussion of those qualifications and the reason for the choice should be made — in public.

Picking the right member is much more important than getting someone in the job quickly, especially when that person will be making such unprecedented decisions about the future of our schools and our students.

There should be no learning curve.