Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors should take a lesson from the members of the school board. There is a reason the school board members run unopposed and the board of supervisors have challengers lined up. The citizens know who is doing a good job and who needs to be replaced.

A great example is the recent decision by the board of supervisors not to fund the hardening of the new Page Middle School to be better prepared for severe weather. This option was discussed recently by the board of supervisors who chose not to fund this. The cost would have been $288,000, but the board of supervisors would not vote to add this.

Now we find out that the county has a $1.7 million surplus. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to use part of that surplus to harden the school to prepare for a disaster? Why would the board choose not to do this? Surely they were aware they were running this large surplus when they chose not to make this vital preparation. If...