New Superintendent Announced - Dr. Chip Zullinger

Last night the Bertie County Board of Education announced its new Superintendent, Dr. Sidney W. (Chip) Zullinger. The motion to offer the position to Dr. Zullinger was made by Gloria Lee and passed unanimously. Melinda Eure's comment on the vote, "I am just excited!" A unanimous decision was a good sign. Working together for unanimous decisions to serve our children is becoming a trademark of the new board and we welcome the improvement.



Dr. Zullinger (shown above) made a few comments at the meeting and his tone was very encouraging too:

"Critically Important issue is the Teacher-Child-Parent Relationship. A school system will not improve without support of parents."

"I want to make sure that our resources are allocated from the 'Classroom Out.' When teachers are not happy, the system does not work."

"Schools become better when the community is empowered to work closely with our schools."

This last, allowing parents more say in the running of the schools, is actually what some of his critics in the past were not happy with. However the article in the Washington Post that reflects these feelings is titled, "New Leader Known for Vision And Controversy".

That certainly sounds like the person we need. One achievement I really like is while he was serving as Superintendent in Denver, CO., they became the first district in the country to get the NEA to sign-off on teacher merit pay based upon the achievement of students.

Dr. Zullinger has a long term record of success. He is known as a leader and for doing things that don't reflect the conventional wisdom of the teachers unions and education bureaucrats. Like our interim Superintendent though he is known for good fiscal management and working for consensus . . . . while focusing on the most important people in our system, the children. I personally cannot imagine a more effective Superintendent than someone who actually cares about our children enough to get parents involved in their education. Why his critics think this is wrong is a mystery.



On a personal note, I want to thank interim Superintendent Dr. Michael Priddy for his service to Bertie County. His short tenure here was an extremely positive experience, and I wish him good luck in his return to retirement.

Dr. Chip Zullinger - Bio

Dr. Sidney W. (Chip) Zullinger - Superintendent of Schools - Bertie County, NC

Dr. Zullinger has 22 years of experience serving as a superintendent of schools in North Carolina, Wyoming, South Carolina, Colorado, and Virginia. His superintendent experience began in North Carolina in Yancey County, his home county. After three years as the superintendent of Yancey County Schools, he led Sampson County Schools for five years. Dr. Zullinger has served as superintendent in some of the largest school districts in the United States, including Charleston, South Carolina, and Denver, Colorado. Most recently, Dr. Zullinger has served as Executive Director for the South Carolina Education Association.

Dr. Zullinger has a reputation for being very focused on student achievement and for being devoted to the well-being of all students from all backgrounds. He has often found himself in school districts with significant educational challenges, governed by divided local boards of education. Under his leadership, the school districts he has served have been able to realize significant improvements in student achievement in spite of the local divisions.

Dr. Zullinger is thrilled about the opportunity to return to North Carolina to serve as Superintendent of the Bertie County Schools. He is looking forward to working with the board, the staff of the Bertie County Schools, the students, the parents and the public to move the Bertie County School District forward.


This bio was provided by the Bertie County Schools

Jennipher Dickens Talks About Shaken Baby Syndrome

Jennipher Dickens made an excellent presentation about Shaken Baby Syndrome to the Rotary Club yesterday. Jennipher has received a grant from the Bertie County Commissioners to provide training and information about this critical problem to clubs and organizations in our area.




Jennipher's earlier presentation to the County Commisioners was covered on the Patriot blogs here. That article has links to some very usefull sites about SBS. It is important that we do more to get people to understand how fragile a child is and how easily you can create permanent harm if you allow frustration over crying to result in shaking a child. Tens of thousands are permanently harmed ever year because of this reaction. Jennipher is working to reduce that horrible consequence for these children.




Sharon Davis, Rotary President, (shown above) presents Jennipher with the traditional Cobalt Blue Coffee Mug as a thank you for her presentation.

If anyone would like to see Jennipher's presentation on Shaken Baby Syndrome, and volunteer or contribute to help reduce this problem that so devastates a child's life, please call her at (252) 724-0144. This is a preventable tragedy.

Aulander Rescue Disbands

by Jennipher Dickens - August 29th, 2007 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

WINDSOR - After 49 years of service, the Aulander Rescue Squad is no more.

Klaus Akkerman, as a representative of the squad, came before the Bertie County Commissioners at their regular meeting Monday night and announced that as of midnight Tuesday, the Aulander Volunteer Rescue Squad (AVRS), Inc. would no longer be operational.

"Bertie County will have to provide emergency management services to the approximately 2100 citizens who live in the 75 square miles covered by the Aulander Squad," Akkerman stated.

As noted in Jennipher's article, Aulander was the second rescue squad in the state of North Carolina to be formed. 49 years is a long time. It is a shame that something that survived for so long is disbanding. It seems that at least part of the problem is both sides were failing to communicate. I am not pointing fingers. I just find it sad this could not be worked out.

Hopefully the people in the area covered will get adequate service for their rescue needs. However things do not look good. Jennipher has another article about the same County commisioner's meeting in which the Aulander Rescue announcment was made. A local citizen complained about the Colerain Rescue Squad not providing adequate service.

Unhappiness Is A Drawn Gun

by Paul Jacob - August 26th, 2007 - Townhall.com

In this article Paul Jacob has some fun with the over reaction of educators who treat a picture of a gun as if it was a real gun and expel a student. Having described their over reaction as a form of sickness, he ends with the following:

It's really sad to think of educators and schizophrenics in the same sentence.

But even if we kill that thought, even if we just take the event as over-reaction, pure and simple, well, you'd think that educators would not be in the business of blowing things out of proportion.

Still, that's what the school did, it blew something up all out of proportion.

Oops. I have just used a violent phrase: "blew up." And before that, "kill."

Will Homeland Security target me now?

Of course not. Not even the federal government is that stupid.

The awful truth then dawns: the people in charge of America's children are more foolish than the federal government.

Paul needs to be careful. Sarcasm is not popular with liberals. Look at how crazy they get when Ann Coulter uses it. And most educators are liberals.

New Teachers Are Shown Around Bertie

A great group of Bertie County people went out of their way to welcome the new teachers to our area. They were taken for a tour of Historic Hope house, the YMCA, to the Freeman Hotel for a Chamber of Commerce greeting and on a tour of the Cashie River on the River Center's Pontoon Boat.





It was a pretty good day of welcome, even if a little warm due to the 100 degree temps. Thanks to all the people who worked so hard to welcome our new teachers.

Bertie Middle School Dedication

Sunday there was a very impressive ceremony to dedicate the new middle school that has replaced Southwestern and C.G. White here in Bertie County. I still feel sad that the history of these schools was abandoned by not having the new school be named for one of the old schools and simply declared a replacement. History is important to any society.




The new school is still attracting a lot of interest because it has been so long since Bertie had any new facility. Most of the county's important officials made it to the event. As usual, people started to arrive early and stand around and talk with friends.




The formal events Sunday started with a ribbon cutting cermony (shown below).






That was followed by some speeches in the new audtiorium / basketball arena, starting with the first pledge of allegiance in the new facility.







Finally the two Vice-Chairmen for our County Commissioners and Board of Education, Melinda Eure and L.C. Hoggard, unveiled the plaque at the new school.




I got a picture of all of the Board of Education with the new plaque.





Finally there was a reception with food to end the day.

State Of Our Schools Dr. Michael Priddy High Expectations To Be Future Focus

On Thursday, Dr. Michael D. Priddy, our Interim Superintendent gave a special press conference on the State of Bertie County's School System covering a "broad overview of general welfare and readiness and recent results in student testing". Two assistants were there to help him cover the many topics; Wayne Mayo, Curriculum Coordinator for Math/Science/Media and Brent Todd, Public Information Officer.

Dr Priddy started his comments by noting that the County Commissioners had recently given the Bertie County schools "more local funds than they had ever provided before" and a "larger percentage increase than at any previous time".

Dr. Priddy expressed the belief that "local efforts" were the determining factor in quality, especially for staffing and was very appreciative of this support.

The press conference covered a great number of areas very quickly, and in the little more than an hour and half there was a lot of detail provided. Much of the material is covered on the new Bertie County Schools Web Site which is linked above on the title to this article. However much of this information was tactical in nature and merely covered the administrative details of running a large institution that is in a state of transition due to the reality of past failures and shortcomings. Many of these areas will be covered in detail in the future, however it was the one strategic topic that came up a couple of times that caught my attention on this day.




That topic was highlighted by Dr. Priddy's inclusion of Wayne Mayo (shown above) in the press conference. At the request of Dr. Priddy, Mr. Mayo addressed the one bright spot in the past year in student achievement. That bright spot was the now closed C.G. White Middle School in Powellsville which was the only school in Bertie County to meet AYP goals. Mr. Mayo was Pricipal at that school. The strategy that led to success started with that school's focus on high expectations for the students.

High Expectations

In almost all discussions about school failures in America one theme keeps coming up. Schools that succeed get parents, teachers and students to believe that they can succeed and that success is expected. A key teacher role in this is to stop saying why students cannot succeed and to start demanding that high expectations are reasonable and attainable. Parents must be encouraged in this until they too focus on the theme of expecting students to excel, not excusing failure. Mr. Mayo gave a short explanation of how he tried to do that at C.G. White. The results indicate he was on the road to success.

The question for our school system is how do we build on this for the future? Bertie County schools cannot continue to fail our children. As Mr. Mayo said in his comments, we must start to intervene BEFORE our children fall behind. He used almost the exact words of a former brilliant business manager I worked for who used them to define the process that succeeds, "people respect what you inspect". Principals and parents must get involved with the recognition that testing is how you measure success. Testing is nothing but the process of inspecting the efforts of our teachers and students to pass along from one generation to the next the knowledge that leads to the American dream. It should not be used to criticize but to refine the efforts that lead to success.

A starting point for this is for all of the adults involved, parents, school administration, Board of Education, and County Commissioners . . to end the arguments of the past and find the common ground of "high expectations" for our children. An example of this noted by Dr. Priddy is the recent pattern that our Board of Education is nearly unanimous on the strategy for the future, as reflected by the number of 5 to 0 votes that are starting to happen. When not unanimous they talk about the problems until they work out a common agenda. They do not just rush to a 3 to 2 vote to shove one groups agenda. We must build on this growing consensus. It is important.

One magnificent element of leadership that Dr. Priddy has provided since he arrived is his willingness to stop being defensive and talk about problems honestly, with the goal to fix them, not deny them. Things are not good yet, but things are finally moving in a great direction. It is a key element in getting the unanimity Dr. Priddy talked about.

We need to continue this move, and I can think of nothing better than to get everyone involved in Bertie County education focused on what Dr. Priddy and Mr. Mayo called "high expectations". Our children CAN succeed in education if we get parents and teachers to join in this goal. I left this press conference very encouraged.

For parents, teachers or taxpayers who have further questions, Dr. Priddy can be contacted by phone at (252) 794-6015 or by email at mpriddy@bertie.k12.nc.us.

Brent Todd, Public Information Officer can be contacted by phone at (252) -794-6032 and by email at btodd@bertie.k12.nc.us.

Wayne Mayo, Curriculum Coordinator for Math/Science/Media can be contacted by phone at (252) 794-6004 or by email at wmayo@bertie.k12.nc.us.

Rotary Supports Water Search & Rescue

The Windsor Rotary Club has used a portion of its funds to support one of the most important groups in our community. Because we are a pennisula, with the Chowan, Roanoke and Cashie Rivers creating such a boating haven for our citizens and community visitors, water rescue frequently becomes necessary.

As much fun as fishing and boating and swimming is, there is always an element of danger that unfortunately cannot be avoided. When accidents happen, the great people of the Bertie County Water Search and Recovery team are called on to provide services that help family members find closure. It is tough work.




Richard Whitely (shown on right above) of Windsor Rotary presents a check for $500 to Jody Rhea (shown on left above) of Bertie County Water Search and Recovery to assist with their work and in recognition of the great job that they do.

Updated and reposted 8/17/2007

Easley Supports New County Taxes

There is an article posted on the Inner Banks Eagle about the attempt by North Carolina to raise Bertie County taxes. It is politics so we posted the article in on the "Eagle". However some have asked me to make people who read the Bertie County Patriot aware of the article since it will affect so many middle class people who don't know they may have the value of their homes seized by government. Click on the title above to see what is being proposed.

Mary Davis Honored At Annual Chamber Dinner

Last Night The Windsor-Bertie Chamber of Commerce held its annual member dinner. The highlight of this dinner is always the special award for Citizen of the Year. Dignataries on the dais (shown above) included Emily Ballance, speaker for the evening, Phil Patrick, Board President, Sharon Davis, Chamber Director, Steve Wishall, Special Events chairman, and Bob Spivey, Mayor of Windsor. As at most dinners there were the usual starting ceremonies before the award.




Phil Patrick, President of the Chamber Board (shown above) opened the ceremonies with a Welcome.




Windsor Mayor Bob Spivey (shown above) also welcomed everyone, and gave the invocation for the evening.




The Director of the Chamber, Sharon Davis introduced Mike Dacuk, Vice President of Bertie Memorial Hospital to Make the Presentation for this years Award to Mary Davis, Citizen of the Year (shown below).




There was a very good attendence this year.




Speaker for the evening was Emily Ballance, a motivational speaker (shown below) who gave an excellent presentation on "Attitude in the Workplace". It was a fun speech and included the audience in some exercises that had us drawing "smiley faces" on each others hands! Sounds corny but it was fun.




On two occassions the evening's sponsors were identified and thanked. Sponsors included: Chowan University, Embarq, Hazelgrove-Cooper Realty, Partnership for the Sounds, Southern Bank-Windsor, Camden St. Designs, Powell & Stokes, and Signs by Richard.

Our Centers Of The Universe

by Jonah Goldberg - August 8th, 2007 - Townhall.com

. . . . according to a report, "Egos Inflating Over Time." Jean Twenge of San Diego State University and a team of psychologists combed through the answers of 16,475 college students nationwide who took the Narcissistic Personality Inventory survey between 1982 and 2006. Their conclusion: Today's American youth are the most self-absorbed since we've studied the subject. "We need to stop endlessly repeating, You're special, and having children repeat that back," Twenge told the Associated Press. "Kids are self-centered enough already."

No matter how many times we repeat that mantra, it means nothing when kids see others beating them. Their reaction is to shut out the world and become more narcissistic. It is at its heart the reason for the other obvious symptom we see daily. Children expect that their world will be filled with excitement and interesting things. "That's boring" is their answer to anything that requires discipline or more than a momentary attention span. As a result, they can learn nothing of any great complexity.

It is the reason so many kids have mastered the superficial use of technology, like cell phones and text messaging and chat rooms. At the same time they are useless at "understanding" any complex technology subjects. A superficial use of technology while expressing boredom at understanding it is not a recipe for future success in our increasingly technical world.

At our Bertie Schools we see a large percentage of students who use technology while they score abysmally on the state tests about math and science. After two generations of the feel good mantra of our public schools, why are we surprised?

Shaken Baby Syndrome Education Organized For our Area

Jennipher Dickens made an emotional and effective presentation today about the problem of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Her mother, Kim Price, assisted her with the presentation.



Kim Price and Jennipher Dickens

The public is becoming much more aware of Shaken Baby Syndrome with the growing publicity the problem is getting on a national level. Click on the title above and here to reach two of the national web sites that can provide information on the issue. However the issue is so critical most experts are convinced that local involvement is necessary to really make a difference. That is where Jennifer's support comes in. Because her ex-husband confessed to shaking her son Christopher, she is a committed spokes-person for the cause of stopping this abuse. Jennipher has agreed to volunteer her time to make a difference on this issue, and is looking for others who would like to get involved.





After her presentation the County Commissioners unanimously voted to help defray the costs of educational material that Jennipher's new organization will be distributing, as well as some of the start up costs. Jennipher's efforts will begin with a program scheduled at Roanoke Chowan Hospital.

If anyone would like to see Jennipher's presentation on Shaken Baby Syndrome, and volunteer or contribute to help reduce the 1200-1400 proven cases each year that so devastate a child's life (with many more that are unreported), please call her at (252) 724-0144. This is a preventable tragedy.

Vesting Changes Delayed

Wording for the subdivision ordinance changes needed to provide approved developments with assured vesting rights were provided to Bertie citizens today at a hearing to allow public comments. County Attorney Lloyd Smith has drafted the wording in conjunction with Tracy White, Planning Manager, and Zee Lamb, County Manager.

The County Commissioners took the proposed wording under advisement and plan a second meeting for public comment to discuss final wording, to be held in conjunction with the County Commission Meeting on 8/27.

Since the vesting issue has been delayed, no action was taken on the other proposed amendment, to allow 30 foot of setback on manmade waterways.

Rotary Hears About Hurricane Preparedness

Sharon Davis, new President of the Windsor Rotary Club, welcomed Billy Smithwick, Windsor Fire Chief, to todays meeting.




The topic of Billy's presentation was Hurricane Preparedeness. The experts in hurricanes have been predicting that the 2007 hurricane season, which is about to start, will be much worse than average. Though they predicted that last year and were wrong, statistics says that at some point, we are going to once again see a bad hurricane or two in our area. Traditionally we here in the Inner and Outer Banks of North Carolina are one of the frequent targets of hurricanes.




The focus of Billy's presentation was concern that our local citizens remember to get ready. It is good practice to have enough food and water to last 72 hours without outside help. It is also good practice to be especially careful to have any medicines that you regularly need for at least that long as well. Running down to the last of your meds during the hurricane season is a risk, since pharmacies may be closed and unable to get medicines themselves after a serious hurricane.





If anyone needs answers to specfic questions, contact your local fire or emergency management office.