The Chesapeake Board of Education needs to remember for whom it works: The parents and taxpayers of the school district.

That means board members have an obligation, and a responsibility even, to communicate with the citizens — and by extension the media — why it makes the decisions it does.

That certainly applies when that decision is to suspend temporarily the district’s leader for some undisclosed reason.

Last week, the board voted to suspend Superintendent Scott Howard with pay. Howard’s attorney says the board is investigating how a project for the Greater Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce was handled.

What does the school board say? Good question but, unfortunately, none of them are willing to tell the citizens of the district and all Ohio taxpayers what occurred.

School officials ignored phone calls, dodged questions and refused to provide even the most basic information about why this decision was made, leaving taxpayers and parents in the dark.

The board members wouldn’t even tell the media who was in attendance or what the vote was.

We understand proceeding with caution to prevent any legal misstep but the board is negligent for not being prepared to have at least a general statement ready to inform the public.

Based on the information available, this seems like a non-issue that could have been resolved with some basic civility and communication.

Is there more to the situation? Maybe so, but the board should have had the courage to say exactly that.

Residents have to wonder if some members of the board have personal agendas or are just looking for reasons to oust Howard, who has a valid contract.

If the superintendent did something wrong, fine. He should be properly disciplined.

But, if this is about politics and personalities, it has no place on the school board and only takes away from the true objective of providing a quality education for the children of Chesapeake.