One of the dearly held freedoms we have as U.S. citizens is the right to petition our government.

A group of concerned citizens who live in the Old Town District of Selma — and others citywide — have banded together to save their school.

These petitioners of government have even applied high-tech methods to centuries-old ideas. Emery Hicks heard about an announcement by the Selma Schools superintendent Donald Jefferson of a plan to possibly close down Byrd Elementary School. Hicks believes the school is an anchor in his community; people want the school near their homes.

Hicks created www.savebyrdschool.com as a central location for people to understand the issues presented by the community people who want to save the school; a petition for people to sign; information about the school and school board meeting dates and links to different news stories about the school.

Many people have visited the website. Many have signed the petition. Many want to save the historic school.

Now, this website with its information may not save Byrd School from closure. But the beauty of this action is people still believe in their public community schools. They see them as parts of the community — living and breathing — as much as they see the houses and the sidewalks, the trees and the people who make up their community.

Coming together as community, whether in person or online, the folks who want to save Byrd are fully using their rights in an appropriate way to tell their government they don’t like an idea. We hope the government listens and reacts in a similarly appropriate way.