We shouldn't be saying goodbye to Dr. Stacy Scott this week. The fact is he should have never been here.

The statement sounds harsh but it is true and it has nothing to do with Dr. Scott's performance here.

All the talk about providing stable leadership for our schools can be traced back to the School Committee that created the environment that led to the departure of Elaine Espindle as superintendent of schools.

Now I'm not going to go back and call them out one by one but everything that has happened since is because of their bad judgment.

We really should be in Year 17 of Espindle's term.

Twice the town has hired superintendents since her departure and twice the town has had to ask her to come back and stabilize the district.

Why do these things happen in schools? It's because, as an old friend of mine is fond of saying, "too many people get elected to office that have never signed the front of a paycheck."

Looking back on Dr. Scott's time here, a couple of things come to mind.

First, let's be honest: He landed on his feet here and almost immediately changed the image of our schools for the better.

Was it all the talk about his vision or was it the fact that he made changes at the top level that many felt were overdue?

But a fair evaluation of the early part of his term would be that without him and without the group of parents that got behind his vision, the town might have said no to the renovation of Dracut

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High School.

And that is to his credit.

Unfortunately, the fact that he decided to leave town before his contract period was over and questions about his fiscal management have left a bad feeling.

And what about all this talk about Dracut not doing enough to fund its schools that became the rallying cry for the administration toward the end?

With all due respect, the budgetary limitations have been known in this town for generations and good managers learn to make it work.

This administration was pushing raises for principals right up until the end while complaining there weren't enough funds to run the district.

So we now welcome Steven Stone as our new superintendent of schools and hope for the best result.

Stone has lots of history in our system as our former special education director and has some detractors in the special education community.

But he does like to stay in one place and, if people want stability, this guy could be the answer. He spent more time as the district's special education director than the current (for the next few days) and former superintendents combined.

I have three friends with varied connections to the schools who seldom agree on anything, but they all agree that Stone could be the "fit" the district is looking for.

Let's hope so.

Warren Shaw is a former Dracut selectman. He hosts a talk show on WCAP.