The public education system in Tyler County finds itself in a state of chaos.

On Tuesday, following a closed-door session of the Tyler County Board of Education to discuss Superintendent Shane Highley’s annual evaluation and a potential new contract, board members voted, 3-2, to not bring Highley back as superintendent. Voting against a new contract were board members Diane Stender, Larry Thomas and Andy Shreves.

The two board members who voted for renewing his contract — board President Katrina Byers and member Scott Strode — then resigned at the end of the meeting. On Wednesday, at a follow-up board meeting to discuss the consolidation of the county’s two elementary schools into one, both Byers and Strode rescinded their resignations. The full board then approved the $65 million consolidation of Arthur I. Boreman and Sistersville elementary schools into one school, which will be housed in a new building on the Tyler Consolidated School campus.

All the while, community members who gathered Wednesday in support of Highley were left to wonder just what was going on with the board.

“The decision that was made by three of the board members, it’s just flat out wrong,” Brian Highley, the father of Shane Highley, said in a report. “… We voted these people in, and they did not listen to the people that voted them in.”

The board members who voted against Highley’s extension owe the community an explanation. If you’re willing to make that vote against renewing a contract, stand behind your convictions and explain it to the taxpayers.