Last Monday, the Linden City Schools board set the deadline of Friday at noon for Dr. Tyrone Smith to either accept or decline the offer of the position of superintendent.

Smith’s attorney, John Saxton, went to China the day after Smith was offered the position and only returned to the States on Tuesday.

Saxton wanted the board to know that the delay in Smith’s response was totally his fault and asked the board not to let it reflect on Smith, who has said often that he is anxious to come to Linden.

The board took that plea into consideration. The deadline came and went, but negotiations with Smith’s contract had been ongoing with the board’s attorney, Alex Braswell, and progress in the talks was being made quickly.

Although a final agreed contract was not yet in place, the board voted 3-0 (with two members absent) to accept the contract and Smith’s acceptance. The finalized contract was expected to come in this Monday morning, and Smith was willing to come in to work Wednesday morning.

A great thank you goes to the Linden board of education, which saw that it didn’t have to stick to its guns to get things done. It could have easily adhered to its own deadline, but saw that Smith was eager to come to Linden, and that his contract talks were progressive and fast-moving. Thanks also to Alex Braswell for keeping things moving.

We look forward to meeting Dr. Smith, and welcome him to our community.