Ever since Superintendent of Schools Dr. Shawn Dilly canceled the public hearing and Randolph County Board of Education vote to close the Pickens K-12 School on Oct. 14 — a decision announced less than two hours before the hearing’s scheduled start — because he said “new information related to funding” had been received, many people in Randolph County have been anxious to hear the new information, and to learn where the funding will come from.

At Tuesday night’s Randolph County Board of Education meeting, those in attendance or watching the event streaming on YouTube had to wait more than an hour for the subject of the new Pickens funding information to be brought up.

Then, just before the end of the meeting, Board of Education member Dr. Sherri Collett asked Dilly, “Can you explain to us why the Pickens hearing was canceled?”

Dilly replied, “Based on some information I received that I’m not able to disclose, I got some information where we should be able to get some additional funding to support an additional year.”

So Dilly declined on Tuesday to give any details about where the funding would come from, but he did say something that got the attention of a lot of Pickens residents.

After noting that he had “rolled the dice a little bit” in canceling the public hearing, since the funding is not definitely in place, he added, “But my hope is that we can then allow them (Pickens) to have that additional year, because what that additional year does for them is they actually have five students that will be graduating from Pickens at that time.

“But then they (Pickens) will fall below the legal threshold of 20 students and state code, which means it’s a lot easier to close the school.”

The evening of Oct. 14, residents in Pickens were celebrating the fact that their school was — possibly — going to remain open.

What they didn’t know at the time is that Dilly’s “hope” is apparently that the new funding will allow Pickens K-12 School to stay open for just one additional year — in order to make it easier for the BOE to close the school for good at the end of that year.

Obviously, some people in Pickens weren’t pleased by what they heard Tuesday night. They would like more details on what funding Dilly is talking about, and on what he’s planning regarding their school.

So would the Randolph County Board of Education members, who are apparently also in the dark regarding the new funding information, based on the questions Collett posed to Dilly Tuesday night.

Why couldn’t Dilly share the information with the BOE members, at least in executive session? After all, the superintendent works for the Board of Education, not the other way around.

The BOE members hired Dilly. Surely, they’re entitled to some answers from him.

Hopefully, further details on the Pickens funding situation will be shared with the public soon. Some residents’ patience — and trust — is running thin.