Emma Johnson For Board Of Education

The Bertie County Patriot supports Emma Johnson for the Board of Education. I met with Emma yesterday afternoon, in her beautiful home in Aulander, to talk about her first year in the position. She was appointed last June and much has happened in the interim. My impressions follow.

When you talk to Emma Johnson you understand why she was a great educator for 30 years. Her voice has a very calming effect, and the questions that float on it are asked in a way that makes you want to answer them correctly. She knows the local history and struggles of our educational efforts.

This day I was impressed with her answer to the first question, "What is your primary goal on the board of education?"

"Dean, I dream big dreams. I want to stay focused on a vision for Bertie County schools that will make us the best school system in North Carolina. Our kids deserve it."

Certainly her efforts to date are consistent with this. As she discusses things that have happened she says, "The night I was appointed to the Board of Education, I met with the finalist for Superintendent that had been found in our previous search efforts to that point. He was a fine man, but I was concerned about his vision. It was not going to take us where I felt we had to go. We started a new search, and until we met Dr. Chip Zullinger, we were not impressed. Here was a man with an impressive track record and a great vision. He had done more research about our Bertie County situation than anyone else we interviewed. He understood how much we were in trouble, and how little we had, but he was looking for a challenge so it didn't bother him. It was not about how much money we could pay him, but what could he do for our kids. I love that."

Emma spent some time summarizing a long list of actions that are in process by our school system. It is an amazing list. The Board of Education and our Superintendent Dr. Zullinger: have arranged for the first College in Bertie County, a Shaw University campus (the Grow Your Own Teachers Program) at the old Southwestern School in Windsor (Shaw is Emma's Alma Mater and this is an effort Emma helped set up) to work on degrees for Bertie kids who want to be teachers; a new Agri-Science High School (and early college) is about to open in the fall, a joint effort between, NC State University, Shaw and Bertie County which will be a unique school in North Carolina; a unique and amazing $5 million Biofuels Research Lab, a joint effort between Shaw University, NC State and the Agri-Science High School, which will work on efforts to develop a practical process of salvaging grease and oils from our school kitchens to create biodiesel to fuel our school buses (the materials for the lab have just been delivered and this is aggressively moving forward); "More at Four" pre kindergarden schools in Powellsville at the old C.G. White School and at the abandoned Askewville School to prepare Bertie County children for success; and a 9th Grade Academy to resolve the issues associated with transition from Middle School to High School. The "More at Four" has been an exciting effort since it will reinvigorate the two communities.

Emma says other discussion are under way to find people and companies who will help to recondition the vandalized J.P. Law school down in Merry Hill so that it too can be made a part of the "More at Four" program, and other uses can be found to help revitalize that community.

Discussion are also underway to create a "Vocational High School" which will focus on job training for high paid non college careers. An example of the value is that companies in the community have claimed they need more than 15 new welders each year. These are high paid jobs, with experience paying as much as $100,000 a year, available right here in Eastern North Carolina. Currently these jobs are going to people who move in to our area, rather than our own people. We need to prepare local students to fill these jobs.

Emma's comments on every occasion when I have talked with her convince me she will continue to be a great champion for the students and teachers who are the core of the education apple. She has helped build bridges in our county. She continues to use them to explain to different constituencies why focusing on the student in the classroom is where all our efforts to change and improve education must start.

In short, Mrs. Emma (as some of us like to affectionately call her) is going to finalize the bridge to unanimity on public education in our county. That is a bridge we have been looking for, for quite some time. She has done an excellent job in her first year and deserves our support.