To an outside observer, it’s not hard to imagine that, more than anything else, internal politics motivated the unexpected, involuntary transfers of two Guilderland High School teachers to Farnsworth Middle School, announced by Superintendent John McGuire late last month and upheld by the school board yesterday.

Unfortunately, school administrators and boards of education can’t comment publicly on “personnel” matters, so one can only guess at the real reasons they felt these longtime social studies teachers, whose students habitually performed well on state Regents tests, had to be moved. But one thing is fairly certain in the cases involving Matt Nelligan and Ann-Marie McManus, and that’s that school officials handled the transfers, and subsequent public outcry, badly.

Nelligan and McManus have been outspoken critics of what they feel is a cozy relationship between the teachers union and school administrators. Nelligan’s personal politics were also suspect: He is a staunch conservative who made no effort hide his feelings. Such things, especially in a liberal teaching environment, can get a worker in trouble with his or her colleagues, and when administrators decided to launch a formal “culture climate” inquiry into the two teachers, it was not surprising that there were a fair number of detractors. So off to middle school the teachers were banished.

Transfers of this or any other sort, frankly, are a school administrator’s prerogative, but a superintendent and/or school board that supports them without much explanation has to expect — and accept — a fair amount of public criticism. This is where things went awry in Guilderland. Earlier this month, hundreds of angry parents and students stormed a board meeting in an effort to express their dissent but they weren’t allowed to: The school board president reportedly cut off people’s attempts to speak and adjourned into executive session.

The board may have had a legal right to do so, but its action only infuriated the crowd further. It also played right into deposed teacher Nelligan’s hands: He grabbed a microphone and delivered a lecture. It was great theater on the 11 o’clock news, but a no-win situation for the school board.

Officials may have had cause for wanting to banish Nelligan and McManus, and they may not have been able to discuss it, but they still shouldn’t have turned tail and run when the teachers’ supporters demanded to be heard.