After 34 years in public education, Angela Baucom (at right) is finally ready to retire. That means her role as principal of Bailey Middle School in Cornelius will be ending July 1. We have a full report on her retirement, along with news of Daniel Brown’s basketball success at Cannon School. Plus, don’t forget about Thursday’s education forum at Town Hall, which is listed in our school events calendar.

Baucom retires from CMS service

Angela Baucom has had a hand in two important school starts in the Davidson area. In the early 1990s, she oversaw the construction and move into Davidson Elementary, which opened to students in December 1993. That was a transfer of an existing school from an old building (the current Davidson I.B. Middle School) to a new one. Two years ago, Ms. Baucom once again was immersed in construction plans, this time for the creation of an entirely new middle school for the growing Cornelius and Davidson area. Bailey Road Middle School opened in the fall of 2006, with Ms. Baucom as principal.

Looking back over her career as a school principal for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Ms. Baucom told DavidsonNew.net that the national designation of Davidson Elementary as a Blue Ribbon School in 1995 was a personal highlight.

“I was so pleased to have that recognition,” she said. “You have to demonstrate growth and progress over a three-year period. It was a real culmination of our time at Davidson.”

Ms. Baucom said success as a principal depends on the building of a partnership between teachers, student families and school administration. To illustrate her point, she described standing inside the entrance to Davidson Elementary to greet students on school mornings in the years when her own two sons were attending the school.

“And there would be Martin and Brian Baucom walking through the door,” she said. “I would think to myself, ‘What kind of day do I want them to have?’ A principal has to approach it that way and create an environment for the children and the adults so that they will look forward to coming to school.”

Though Ms. Baucom said she enjoyed her time at Davidson Elementary, she wanted to take on the challenge of creating a successful new middle school.

“That’s why I chose to leave something I was very comfortable with,” she explained from her office in Bailey last week. “I felt a need to start this start so that parents would see that they have a great middle school.”

Now in its second school year, Bailey Middle has 1,210 students, 13 athletic teams, a band and orchestra, an active National Honor Society chapter and numerous extracurricular clubs.

“We’ve made great progress,” Ms. Baucom said. “After two years, this school is on very solid footing.”

Plus, construction is planned to begin soon for the neighboring Bailey Road High School, slated to open in the fall of 2010.

Ms. Baucom said her replacement will likely be announced before her departure this summer. Hugh Hattabaugh, the North Learning Community Area Superintendent for CMS will be taking input from a committee of Bailey teachers and students on the necessary leadership traits for a new Bailey principal. (Keep in mind that Mr. Hattabaugh will be at Davidson Town Hall on Thursday, April 3, to discuss middle and high school issues for this area.)

Ms. Baucom, who lives in the River Run neighborhood of Davidson, said she looks forward in retirement to being able to spend more time with her family. That includes her husband, Ladd, and three grandsons.

“Plus a fourth due in June,” she noted.

In their announcement of Ms. Baucom’s retirement on the Bailey website, PTA President Betty Stanford and School Leadership Team Chair Peter Quinn offered high praise for their departing principal.

“It is a retirement richly deserved,” they stated. “We are most grateful for her dedicated, competent leadership that is reflected in all areas of academic and social life at Bailey Middle School.”

Cannon School senior gets hoops scholarship

For those who just can’t get enough of March Madness, here’s a hoops scoop. Cannon School senior Daniel Brown of Davidson will join the basketball team at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. this fall. Daniel, the son of Tony and Kathy Brown, was a three-year member of Cannon School’s varsity basketball team, which claimed the Metrolina Athletic Conference (MAC) championship this season and reached the NCISAA State Semifinals.

As a starter this season, Daniel helped lead the team to a 27-6 overall record and averaged 6.0 points and two assists per game. The 6’0” guard also led the Cougars in steals (48) and deflections (140) and was selected as the team’s Best Defensive Player.

Presbyterian’s Blue Hose basketball team competed at the Division I level for the first time in the 2007-2008 season.

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