When the big yellow school bus cranked up Wednesday, a sad truth became apparent.

Some area elected and appointed leaders have rarely set foot in the hallways that contain our community’s future — those at our public schools.

Some leaders have, many times, and to those, we say thank you. Others, who may have sent their own children to private school, just never saw a reason to visit the Natchez-Adams School District.

Yet, every time election season rolls around the same old tune pops up — “I’m going to fix our schools.”

Well, at least a group of officials who hopped on the bus Wednesday now have some slight idea of what it is that may need fixing.

Kudos to the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce’s education committee for identifying a problem and taking action to fix it. It’s sad that our local leaders don’t frequent the public schools. But it’s a start that they went along for the ride Wednesday.

All who participated deserve a gold star.

Seeking first to understand our public schools is a requirement before anyone dives in to “fix” anything.

Let’s just hope that bus doesn’t run out of gas anytime soon.