At last, the School Committee has done what it should have done many months ago: scheduled an open forum where townspeople can get answers to questions that have dogged the school board since last winter. It’s true that in a small town, anyone can call any board member, ask a question, and hopefully get an answer, but that’s not the same as airing a controversial issue in public. Too often in recent months, the school board has failed to appreciate the destructive power of unanswered questions and seems not to have taken seriously the very real concerns of a growing number of residents.

But that could change at the forum scheduled for Monday night, and anyone who has complained about the board’s performance should be there.

The board should be prepared to answer questions about the special education program, in particular who approves expenditures and how the controversial expenditure for a school board member’s child came about. And members should be ready to say whether they ever received letters of complaint from a school employee who says she was unfairly treated by the superintendent and that the board never responded to her allegations.

There will almost certainly be other questions as well, and the time is long gone when the board can duck them and maintain credibility. If it has no authority over special education spending, then it should make sure that whoever does have that authority is present Monday night. This is an opportunity to clear what has become poisoned air, and anyone who has been actively engaged in this controversy­—on either side—has an obligation to participate.