Panama Central School Board of Education members find themselves in a strange position — hiring a new superintendent.

The new superintendent, whoever it may be, will have big shoes to fill, because Panama has been blessed to have Carol Hay and then Lictus at the helm for the past two decades.

In addition to excelling in the challenging world of leading a small, rural school district, both brought tremendous expertise to the region. Hay was well recognized for her knowledge about education finances and her associations at the state level.

Lictus, meanwhile, did yeomanlike work sharing services and positions with neighboring school districts for several years. And while some of those efforts didn’t pan out in the long term, the work Lictus and his counterparts in Clymer and Sherman put into the discussions showed good things can happen when rural school districts put their collective heads together for the betterment of their students.

In a time when superintendents come and go in relatively short time frames, Panama has been lucky to have outstanding superintendents who brought stability to their school district during periods of upheaval at the state level.

They might not realize it, but Panama residents have been awfully lucky.