Now that the dust has settled from this week’s runoff election for District 1 Vicksburg Warren School District Trustee, it’s time for the community as a whole to move forward and continue to support our public schools.

Incumbent Bryan Pratt, the victor in Tuesday’s runoff election, and challenger Kevin “Shane” Quimby ran a clean race and, it’s clear, both have the best interest of our students and teachers at heart. What’s remarkable — and not often seen in the world of politics — is that, upon election results being announced, both men stated their intentions to work with one another for the benefit of our students.

With the upcoming exit of the District 5 Trustee Sally Bullard, who will be replaced by former VWSD Trustee Joe Loviza, we’ll have a board full of familiar faces.

What’s different, however, is the set of challenges this group of Trustees will face.

Through the hard work of the trustees, the teachers, the students and the administration, VWSD finally earned a respectable B letter grade through the state accountability model. It’s up to this new group of trustees to lead the district in maintaining that grade — and maybe, increasing it.

While the last group of trustees saw the construction of the Academy of Innovation building, which is a sight to behold, this new group will be tasked with holding feet to the proverbial fire in order to finish construction at Warren Central High School.

Safety is also paramount, as violence in schools nationwide becomes more commonplace and the adults protecting our children have to work even harder to make schools a safe place for learning.

Our public schools have improved by leaps and bounds over the last decade, and as a community, we’re relying on our school board of trustees to keep the momentum going.

However, it’s often been said that a school district is only as strong as the community supporting it. It’s up to us, the people who live here, to put in the work where we can. Maybe that comes in the form of volunteering in your child’s or grandchild’s classroom. Maybe it’s participating in the district’s programming and joining VWSD as a business partner. Maybe it’s simply taking one of the school tours regularly offered by the district.

No matter the method, if our elected trustees are expected to serve the district, we should do what we can to support them, too.