THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040713
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Bertie County's largest employer officially became its largest supporter of public education Thursday.
``Our board chairman kind of summed it up when he told Jim Perdue, `Thanks a million,' '' said Bertie County Schools Superintendent Joseph Nelson.
That's one ``thanks'' for every dollar granted to the schools by Perdue Farms, a Maryland-based company whose largest poultry-processing plant is in Lewiston in the northeastern part of the county.
Perdue, chairman of the company, and a handful of regional political leaders were on hand at West Bertie Elementary School for the formal announcement of the grant, which Nelson said had been in the works for about two years.
The five-year private award is the largest the county, with an annual budget of about $18 million, has ever received, Nelson said. And North Carolina Department of Public Instruction officials say gifts of such magnitude are rare.
``It's important to serve the communities in which we do business,'' Perdue said by telephone after the announcement. ``It's exciting because it's motivated. They earned it, but they also have milestones they have to work toward.''
Later installments of the grant are contingent on the schools meeting agreed-upon benchmarks and finding about $600,000 in matching funds from other sources, officials said.
The process began when Bertie Schools responded to Perdue Farms' interest in helping the system. After a yearlong study in which ``we really examined ourselves and what we needed to do to be successful,'' the organizations negotiated a dollar total, Nelson said.
``The money is really used for restructuring,'' Nelson said. ``We're literally changing our culture . . . We wouldn't be able to afford that without Perdue.''
Nelson's description of the county's plans are similar to reforms underway in Pasquotank County. Based on the belief that all students can learn, the schools will begin looking at students as customers rather than products.
Grant funds will be used to explore what educational methods work and to train teachers in new ways of delivering curriculum, Nelson said.
School officials said the grant will be a great help to the struggling, 4,000-student district, which has meager resources and end-of-grade test scores among the lowest in the state.
``We are not a wealthy county,'' Nelson said. ``This gives us a chance to go beyond and to dream.'' by CNB