By next July, the Johnston County schools and Johnston Community College will have new leaders. Here’s hoping the schools will follow the college’s lead in the hiring the process.

Last week, college trustees held a forum at which they asked citizens to list the qualities they would like to see in the next JCC president. (Not surprisingly, citizens said they want the next president to be much like Dr. Don Reichard, who is highly regarded not only in Johnston County but across North Carolina.)

The forum was a good first step in finding a successor to Reichard. In particular, it’s an acknowledgment that Johnston Community College belongs first and foremost to the people of Johnston County.

Johnstonians might recall that trustees also sought citizen input the last time they hired a president. They even went so far as to reveal the names of the three finalists, which gave Johnstonians the chance to learn about the candidates.

In contrast, in its last search for a superintendent of schools, the Johnston County Board of Education kept the hiring process secret. It even went so far as to hole up in a Raleigh hotel to interview candidates. Johnston County parents knew nothing about their new superintendent of schools until he had accepted the job.

Folks who defend secrecy in the hiring process say it its necessary to attract the best candidates. We’d argue that Dr. Reichard, hired in the open, proves them wrong.

The Nov. 4 election in Johnston County brought a number of new faces to the Board of Education. It also gave a working majority to board members Larry Strickland and Donna White, who have been the most-vocal critics of business as usual on the Board of Education.

The hiring of a new superintendent will give the Board of Education the chance to do business in a new way, one that gives citizens a say in filling the school system’s top post.