Because discussions and decisions about personnel are made behind closed doors, we don’t know exactly what factors led to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board’s decision to transfer two Chapel High School teachers against their wishes.

From what we’ve been able to tell, the two teachers themselves – AP Biology teacher Bert Wartski and Honors English teacher Ann Thompson – aren’t entirely clear about it either (although, given that their jobs are at stake, they may just be prudently wary of saying very much in public).

Thompson declined to comment, although she did say she planned to hire an attorney to help her appeal the decision.

Wartski, a very popular and active teacher with 24 years of classroom experience, said his transfer was for “nebulous” reasons: “The superintendent is concerned that I cannot add to the positive culture at the school.”

That would be a rather startling determination, given that just two years ago Wartski added so much to the positive culture at the school that the district named him its Teacher of the Year.

The school board will hear the two teachers’ appeals of its decision to transfer them both to East Chapel Hill on Thursday, in a closed session prior to its regular meeting.

If the online posts are any indication, the board will find a good-sized crowd of CHHS students, parents and alumni waiting to support the teachers and urge the board to rescind its decision.

Although the board hasn’t said why it decided to transfer Wartski and Thompson, there is a widespread assumption that it did so because the two have been vocally critical of some district policies.

Wartski in particular has been outspoken about several district decisions in recent years. He fought a district order to remove student-painted ceiling tiles from the CHHS science wing, spoke against certain proposed changes to the science curriculum and strenuously opposed a new grading policy in 2008, writing that “the only thing this policy does is show the contempt that the CHCCS central office has for teachers.”

Thompson was among the other teachers who also spoke out against the grading policy change.

We can’t speak to specifics of the board’s decision to transfer the teachers, because personnel rules preclude the board from divulging those specifics.

But we can say in general that we strongly hope every school district encourages, rather than discourages, open and honest communication by and among faculty, staff, students and parents, even when that communication may be critical of the administration.

It’s hard to imagine a worse environment for learning than one in which people are afraid to speak their minds. Knowledge grows out of the competition between ideas, not out of the enforced adherence to any one.

Education depends on teaching students to think critically, ask questions, conduct independent inquiry, draw their own conclusions while respecting others’ views, and sometimes challenge prevailing points of view. We can’t very well expect those traits of our students if we don’t demonstrate them ourselves.