By Ida Brown / ibrown@themeridianstar.com
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tom Burnham took a day away from his office in Jackson Tuesday to visit several local school districts.
"We don't want to get bogged down in the office in Jackson; when you do, you sometimes will see a lot of frustration," said Burnham, who visited Meridian High School, Clarkdale Attendance Center and Enterprise High School.
"It's good to go to the schools; to talk to the building administrators and to see all the excitement that's going on in the classrooms," he said.
Burnham's stop at the local schools was in conjunction with a visit with District 33 State Senator Videt Carmichael.
"I welcome anytime I can bring the state superintendent of education to my home area and let him see a 'boots on the ground' of what's going on in my senate district (which includes Lauderdale and Clarke counties)," Carmichael said.
Burnham visited three of the four school districts in Carmichael's senate district.
"We're missing out on Quitman this time, but surely I can get him back over here to visit there," the senator said.
While the superintendent's visit was unexpected, local school administrators said it gave validity to all the hard work that has been and continues to be put in by the students and school staff.
"We wanted him to see how proud we are of Meridian's schools, and the positive things that we have going on here," said Dr. Randy McCoy, Meridian's interim superintendent.
"We spent an hour touring Meridian High School and seeing how our students are engaged in learning, as well as the updates that have been made possible through the money that the community has provided," McCoy said.
Meridian High School Principal Victor Hubbard welcomed the unexpected visit, describing it as rewarding. He also noted that it was "business as usual" at the north Meridian campus.
"We're just doing what we do every day and that is providing our students with quality instruction," Hubbard said.
Although Burnham's visit did not include discussion on Meridian Public School District's results in the recently released state test scores, he did say that for the most part he was pleased.
"I think there are many things that we can do to improve the schools, but great leadership can never be underestimated," he said.
"The quality of leadership that you have, both at the central administration and at the building level, pretty much defines how your schools are going to perform. I think Meridian (Public School District) has made some decisions. They've established the direction that they're going, it's a very positive direction and I think there's going to be very good results," Burnham said.
Carmichael added that even though test scores at Meridian High School were not as high as hoped, progress is evident.
"You can see that attitudes have changed," he said. "It makes me proud, especially as chairman of education, to see what the schools are doing in my district in a positive way."
