Barnwell principal running for Board seat for District 1
7/10/2008 11:41 PM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend



By ROB NOVIT

Senior writer

John Bass, a Barnwell County principal from Aiken County, will be a candidate for the District 1 seat on the Aiken County Board of Education.

District 1 includes the communities of Wagener and Monetta in Aiken County and Ridge Spring in Saluda County.

Bass was previously in business before moving into education 24 years ago. He taught physics and chemistry at Wagener-Salley High School, South Aiken High and Aiken High.

For the past three years he has served as principal at Guinyard-Butler Middle School in Barnwell. Bass is married to Dr. Deborah Bass, principal at A.L. Corbett Middle School in Wagener. They have a son who graduated from Wagener-Salley and a daughter who attended the school before completing high school at the Governor's School for the Arts in Greenville.

After eight years in office, District 1 School Board member John Brown is not seeking re-election. Neither are incumbents in Districts 8 and 9 in Aiken and District 4 in North Augusta. The filing deadline is Tuesday at noon.

Bass said he is nearing retirement and stayed on in Barnwell District 45 to assist the new superintendent with the transition.

"Obviously, I'm interested in student achievement and teacher quality," Bass said. 'I've had a lot of opportunities as a teacher to be on different committees in technology, special education and adult education."

Bass is pleased with the new direction taken by State Superintendent Dr. Jim Rex in reforms to the Educational Accountability Act (EAA). Accountability is essential, but it's also important to recognize and applaud a school's academic progress, Bass said.

Shrinking fiscal resources are also a concern, he said.

"We must continue to use the resources we can get and encourage involvement from community people and parent organizations," Bass said.

Every K-12 grade is critical, he said. In middle school, however, faculty members see a lot of behavior changes as young children begin to mature. That creates a challenge and also requires a loot of resources and instructional procedures to motivate student, Bass said.

"My goal for the School Board is to be a team member," he said. "I'm very interested in District 1, but I'm obviously concerned about the whole district."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.

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