The question shouldn’t even have to be asked but here goes: Should the Manteca Unified board appoint a replacement for trustee Alexander Bronson who resigned shortly after having felony charges filed against him for election fraud or should they call for a special election?

If the board tonight — or sometime in the next 30 days — opts to replace Bronson by the appointment process history may well blame them with destroying the Manteca Unified School District.

If that sounds melodramatic consider the following:

• One of the six that would decide Bronson’s replacement has been charged with election fraud. Ashley Drain — simply put — may not be a legally legitimate school board member.

• Trustee Sam Fant’s political maneuverings have not only drawn the ire of the San Joaquin County Grand Jury but there is still the unexplored role that Fant played in getting Drain and Bronson to run and if he had anything to do with the mystery of how both managed to come up with the same address to put on their original nomination forms.

• The balance of the board sat quietly as a paid consultant distorted the truth in mailers in a bid to get Measure G passed such as implying the East Union High fire alarms were constantly malfunctioning.

• The board in place prior to November also failed the district administration and community by not insisting on an even more aggressive communication campaign before the rollout out of the $30 million Going Digital effort — the biggest shift in local education since the drive to unify the district. The board is there to represent the community not to simply nod its collective heads and fawn over innovations.

If the board doubts that, let’s revisit the November shocker.

Two incumbents were handily defeated by two unknowns — Bronson and Drain. Bronson collected 10,004 votes and Drain 9,974 votes

There was just a 30 vote difference between them. It was clear that the voters were not happy with what was going on given rumblings about the school bond and Going Digital. Add to the fact interaction between board members and the community during two major initiatives taking place concurrently was non-existent the Drain-Bronson vote clearly takes on the all of the trappings of a protest vote. To believe otherwise would be to buy into the delusional bragging of Fant that he engineered the victory for Bronson and Drain using social media.

That means somehow Fant reached 10,000 people via Facebook campaigns and convinced them to vote for Drain and Bronson. He may have influenced people in his immediate circle in and around Weston Ranch but good luck finding even a dozen people in Manteca that will say a social media campaign sold them on specifically voting for Drain or Bronson.

And even if it is as some administrators suggest the election was the result of a national “throw the incumbents out” mood, it is all the more reason not to appoint a replacement for Bronson.

There is also the very real possibility a recall election could take place against Drain in the coming months.

Recalls by their very nature are raw political undertakings.

It is in the best interest of everyone involved — students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the community — that the board after the dust settles is viewed as both legitimate and being able to rebuild trust.

Yes, Going Digital is a lot to swallow at one time. Yes, there are serious questions about how the campaign for Measure G was conducted. At the end of the day, though, Going Digital and the bond projects will be good for students and the district assuming they are managed right.

What is needed now is a mea culpa attitude from the board. Not an admission of guilt, mind you, but an admission things were done wrong and could have been done better.

Nothing, though, says I am above reproach for all of the mess that has unfolded over the past seven months in the school district than appointing a board member instead of letting voters to have their say.

None of this means that Manteca Unified isn’t doing a fairly good job overall. Nor does it mean every remaining board member needs to go.

The main thing now is to restore faith in the school board and in the schools before irreparable damage is done.

Yes, an election may take money away from the classroom. The board, though, wasn’t concerned about taking money from the classroom that when they flushed a solid administrator down the drain along with a $150,000 buyout so they would not be sued for violating standard personnel procedures because they failed to counter outrageous actions of their fellow trustees.

The school board could save a few bucks by appointing a board member to replace Bronson but is it really worth jeopardizing a $195 million educational system by further undermining public trust?

This column is the opinion of executive editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA. He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209.249.3519.