Spring is springing, and its many harbingers are making their appearances everywhere we look. Some of them are joyous and beautiful. Others, well …

Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, daylight is increasing, and we can hear the crack of the bat and roar of the crowd. There are also skunks roaming around and ants in the kitchen.

The sure sign of spring I’d like to discuss here is that once again, our favorite shows are beginning their hibernation periods, and we spectators are subjected to reruns.

The entertainment I will be missing the most during this hiatus is the melodramatic episodes of the local reality show which has become, not only a local but a national, and even international, sensation this past season. I’m referring, of course, to the Easthampton School Committee’s choice for the post of superintendent of schools. This production has provided its followers with unequaled suspense as well as with slapstick comedy — midnight phone calls, late night searches, broken contracts, “inexcusable” language, abdication of high position, and internal unrest, to name just a few.

The action reached a crescendo at the close of this season when we followers of the narrative were treated to an episode where the committee awarded the coveted position of superintendent of schools to their first choice and subsequently were forced to endure the unmitigated insult of being addressed as “Ladies.” One could hear the gasp of dismay around the world. The group subsequently rescinded their offer.

I was particularly interested in this show since I served on the Westhampton School Committee years ago and chaired the summit for a spell. We dealt with such “mundane” issues as budgets, bullying/violence, curriculum, safety, salaries, and other “trivial” matters. I’m grateful that we never had to face the firestorm of being addressed as “Ladies and Gentlemen.” Making a wrong decision on that issue could easily irrevocably damage the education of our youth.

Mark Twain made a cogent statement that seems fitting to quote here: “In the first place, God made idiots for practice. Then he made school boards.”

Ooops. After reading the above, I sure hope that the Easthampton School Committee doesn’t decide to ban “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” That would undoubtedly open up another “field” of controversy. Amen, I mean Apersons.

Jonathan Kahane

Westhampton

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