It’s one thing to fight the good fight, question authority and offer criticism when the cause is just and there are wrongs to be righted.

It’s quite another to fight simply because you thrive on conflict, love the spotlight and really have nothing else to do.

The former is noble and admirable.

The latter is sad and destructive.

We hope Oxford school district voters will keep this in mind when they head to the polls on Nov. 6.

Five candidates are running for four seats on the board of education.

We believe four of those candidates – Korey Bailey, Erick Foster, Chad Griffith and Mary Hanser – are running for the right reasons and deserve your votes.

Each seems to have a sincere desire to serve their community and continue improving the quality of education our students receive.

Each seems committed to healing old wounds, fostering a spirit of openness, cooperation and trust, and moving forward together.

We believe Bailey, Foster, Griffith and Hanser want to help form an effective board of education that’s responsive to the wants and needs of students, teachers, parents and taxpayers.

The last thing Oxford needs on its school board – or any of its boards, for that matter  – are toxic people with a penchant for self-promotion and a talent for alienating others.

Toxic people are like a disease – if you don’t stop them from spreading, they will infect, consume and destroy everything in their path until there’s nothing left to save.

Just to be clear, we still adamantly oppose any board, elected or appointed, that advocates and practices sham unity.

Boards that believe all votes should be unanimous and no genuine debate should take place in the public eye are a disgusting lie and an affront to the Open Meetings Act.

We believe all elected officials should be able to speak freely, vote their consciences and express dissent – none of this go-along-to-get-along nonsense.

We like boards where officials openly disagree because that means honest and productive dialogue is occurring. Healthy debate helps breed good government and good decisions.

That being said, we also don’t want elected officials who believe it’s their job to constantly throw a monkey wrench into everything, make mountains out of molehills and use their position as a platform from which to grandstand and beat people over the head with their views.

The great 18th-century Irish statesman-philosopher Edmund Burke reminds us, “It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.”

We must beware of wolves in watchdog’s clothing.

In this era of the social media cesspool, when virtually everyone, for better or worse, has the ability to instantly communicate with a mass audience 24-7, it’s imperative that we recognize there’s a huge difference between being a thoughtful watchdog who’s truly looking out for the public and a malicious malcontent who gets their kicks by browbeating others into submission or silence.

For eight long, dreadful years, the Oxford school district was ruled by a vicious bully.

A few years ago, that bully left, but we as a community still bear the emotional scars caused by his words and deeds.

Let’s not start a new era of ugliness, fearmongering and division by adding bullies to the school board.

Let’s use our votes to keep them relegated to the peanut gallery.

Let’s learn from our mistakes and grow as a community.

On Nov. 6, we encourage voters to elect Korey Bailey, Erick Foster, Chad Griffith and Mary Hanser to the Oxford Board of Education.

Things have been getting better.

Let’s not go backward. Please. — CJC

Editor’s Note: In order to be consistent with our election letters policy in the print edition, we will not be allowing any online comments related to the Nov. 6 general election. Per our policy, we did not publish any election-related letters after the Oct. 24 edition. Given this, it would not be fair or ethical to allow people to circumvent this policy by posting election-related comments online. Thank you for understanding.