Chris Graham: It was time for Nichols’ story to come to an end

Whatever side of the fence you were on regarding embattled Staunton School Superintendent Steven Nichols, it was clearly time for Nichols and the Staunton School Board to part ways.

The focus of the School Board, school administrators, faculty, parents and students in recent weeks was on anything but what the mission of a school system should be on. The confidence that all need to have in the captain of the ship had long since been lost, and honestly the only thing that surprises me about the move late last night to accept Nichols’ resignation was that it took this long for the situation to get to that point.

There will continue to be questions about the goings-on at the end of Nichols’ tenure involving issues with bookkeeping, accounting, pay raises and the like. The clean break represented by the depature of Nichols won’t resolve any of that in the immediate term, but it will allow all involved to begin to put their attention on matters that don’t center around whether or not the school system needs to push its lead out the door.