It’s commendable that the newly reorganized Butler School Board, which has five new members, is taking steps to avoid a repeat of a controversy like the one the former board had to deal with during its final days.

The former board faced an embarrassing situation last month when it was alleged that one of its members, Joseph Wiest, had tried to engineer the ouster of volleyball coach Meghan Lucas.

It was not the first time Wiest had been accused of putting pressure on a coach. In 2010, Wiest was reprimanded by the board for allegedly circulating a petition as a board member against softball coach Lori Kline, leading to her resignation. Kline led the girls softball team to the WPIAL playoffs for the first time in her first year as coach.

To avoid any board member overstepping his or her bounds in the future, the new board decided on Monday to form an athletics and extracurricular activities committee consisting of board members. Membership on the committee was not decided, but Wiest won’t be on it, since he will be leaving the board by the first Monday of January, when he will be seated as a Butler Township commissioner — a position he won in the Nov. 8 election.

Although he was the center of the latest coach controversy, which resulted in an estimated 30 to 40 parents, student athletes and coaches attending the November meeting, most of them apparently backing Lucas, Wiest voted with the other eight board members at the latest meeting in approving creation of the proposed committee.

Many, if not most, school boards have long had an athletic committee, although many of those committees don’t extend to other extracurricular activities.

Wiest said Monday that he was standing by his opinion regarding Lucas, and that is his right. However, Wiest caused some people to question his motive in seeking Lucas’ ouster.

Lucas has coached the volleyball team for nine seasons.

In its approach to the issue, the reorganized board began its work on the right foot.

Although board members won’t agree on some issues — it would raise questions if their votes always were unanimous — the board should not be placed in embarrassing situations like those Wiest has triggered. Likewise, Wiest raised a legitimate point when he said he felt “stabbed in the back” that an administrator told the district’s athletic director to attend the November meeting, while he was not informed beforehand that there was public outrage over his stance regarding Lucas.

Good communication between board members and administrators is essential.

For the new board then, the Lucas situation proved to be instructive and, to its credit, its response was correct.

Actions by board members should follow accepted procedures and be aimed at the district’s betterment — not raise suspicions about motives.

Wiest should have exercised better judgment and steered clear of what he is alleged to have done regarding Lucas and, before her, Kline.