Although it gives us no pleasure to say it, it isn’t often that elected officials at any level engage in what might be called distinguished service, handling their business in a way that makes us proud we voted for them.

Most often, it seems, elected officials find themselves enmeshed in some version of the culture wars that rage continually.

Things get ugly, recalls are threated, you get the idea.

That’s why we are so pleased to highlight the action taken by the Marquette Area Public Schools Board of Education this week.

After literally years of work on the issue, the MAPS board voted to approve Sentinels as the new school mascot/nickname.

Last summer, the board voted 4-3 to abolish the Marquette Senior High School Redmen/Redettes nicknames and began the rebranding process. Since then, public input, board discussion and student advisory boards have all weighed in during the selection process.

On Jan. 8, nicknames were paired to the final eight: Cardinals, Hawks, Marauders, Reds, Redtail Hawks, Red Hawks, Redjackets and Sentinels.

By Jan. 16, there were three: Redjackets, Reds and Sentinels.

And now there is one.

Make no mistake, pressure was applied to this board, a lot of pressure. Things got nasty and stayed that way for quite awhile.

But the board held true to its mission and process and saw the issue through to its conclusion.

Observant readers know that what happened in Marquette with the nickname/mascot issue is happening to school boards all over the country.

Sometimes it has to do with banning books, on other occasions it’s a curriculum matter. On still other instances, it’s personnel driven.

It’s not unusual to see school boards cave in under these extreme circumstances. That didn’t happen in Marquette.

Readers should understand that this writing neither supports nor opposes the specific Sentinel selection. What it does is recognize that the MAPS board did things the right way. Everyone was heard, all avenues were explored.

And for that it deserves the community’s thanks.