Board Welcomes New Superintendent

by Curly Morris - November 29th, 2006 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

WINTON - The Hertford County Board of Education introduced their new choice for superintendent to the public Monday.

Dr. Michael G. Basham was in attendance at the board's monthly meeting and he had his agenda mapped out.

"There is a triangle that students need to be cognizant of to succeed," Basham said. "A unity of mind, body and spirit and the completion of that triangle is part of my vision of the future of Hertford County students."

Basham comes to Hertford County after several successful tenures as a superintendent outside of the state before retiring.

The most important quote of the article is when Basham said, "In every school district that I have served, standardized and state test scores improved tremendously because of outstanding instructional personnel, students, school boards and administrative teams. I have emphasized the 'basic skills and beyond' throughout my career."

This is what is needed in Bertie County too. A superintendent who can "trememdously" improve test scores, reflecting children who are learning. That would not even require that Bertie be at the top in the state. It would be a tremendous improvement to reach above average. In fact, considering that Bertie and Hertford are currently right at the bottom, I think average might even count as a "tremendous" improvement for both counties.