Aiken County schools are among South Carolina's best - their SAT scores have been going up every year; dropout rates are down to only 3.4 percent; none of its 40 public schools are on the federal government's "needs improvement" list; and the school system is awash in awards and citations.

Ask Linda Eldridge, school superintendent for the past 11 years, what accounts for the schools' success, and she'll tell you one reason is that she hires only "the most qualified" teachers, principals and administrators. Sounds reasonable. Yet when it comes to the latter two educational posts, she and the school board are running into flak from the Aiken NAACP.

At a time when the district seeks to fill several high-level positions, plus seven principal vacancies, the NAACP has filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

Sometimes the NAACP has been known to cry "wolf" on racial issues, but that's not the case here - at least not when you look at the demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Aiken County is 71.4 percent white and 25.6 percent black. The school system says its pupil population is 58.6 percent white and 34.7 percent black.

Yet among the schools' 40 principals, there are only six African-Americans - one male and five females. Among the 10 top administrative positions, there were only two who were black, but one is retiring and is being replaced by someone who's white.

The NAACP says the hiring policy must be changed. But that's not true. The hiring policy is fine, it just must be followed better.

There are two ways top administrators are hired. One is to advertise when the positions open up, so interested educators can apply. The competition is fair and above board; Eldridge makes her choice and the school board approves or not. The second way is for Eldridge to make her choice without advertising, and then asking the board's approval.

None of the three top positions the school superintendent just filled with white applicants was advertised. Perhaps she hired the "best qualified" people, but she shut out the principals in her own school district, thus blocking their path to advancement and ruffling feathers - not only of the black principals, but whites too.

Hiring "the best qualified" person outside the system may not be the right thing to do if it damages morale within the system. It might be better to hire a "well-qualified" applicant within the system. Surely among the 40 school principals, there were three who could handle administrative posts under Eldridge.

As we understand it, if the top posts were advertised and the competition open and fair, it would go a long way toward improving morale all the way down the line - from administrators to principals to teachers.

This also should be coupled with much more of an effort by the administration and school board to reach out to black educators to fill top jobs.

No one's suggesting quotas or set-asides here, but simply to employ a hiring policy that's already in place. To her credit, Eldridge admits more should be done to bring minority principals and administrators aboard. All she needs to do is start practicing what she preaches.