Richmond County Superintendent Dana Bedden has been criticized for being an outsider, someone who doesn't understand the issues facing the inner-city school system of 32,000 children.

But Dr. Bedden's life and his experiences might make him a unique fit to address the challenges faced by Richmond County, a school system with high poverty, operating under a decades-old desegregation order and plagued by low expectations.

Dr. Bedden, 42, is completing his second year as superintendent, and negotiations for a new three-year contract could soon begin.

On the night he was named Richmond County's new superintendent on June 28, 2007, Dr. Bedden said children will achieve if you believe they can achieve and he stands firm in that belief, rooted in his upbringing.

Where he is now is far from where he began.

The married father of three came from poverty.

Up until the age of 3 or 4, Dr. Bedden lived in Jordan Park, a Florida housing project, where his father did maintenance work.

"I look back on the projects as a good thing," he said. "My mother believed in growing out of the projects."

Life wouldn't get any easier for him after the move.

Dr. Bedden didn't have a bed until high school. Until then he slept on the couch in the living room. In middle school his family got its first car, a car which at times required a little pushing to get going.

He recalled teachers who pooled their money together to buy him a school yearbook he otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford.

"He was Mr. Personality," said Shelby J. Harvey, his assistant principal at Osceola High School in Seminole, Fla.

Arriving on the first day of school, the middle- schooler made the rounds, introducing himself to everyone on staff and shaking their hands, Dr. Harvey said.

"I have never had another student do that," she said. "He was quite a leader as a young man."

She said there was a joke that he should he given a walkie talkie to communicate with administrators because he always knew what was happening within the school.

Dr. Harvey said she expected great things from Dr. Bedden, but said it is "quite remarkable" for him to become the superintendent of such a large school system at such a young age.

Dr. Bedden is the youngest of four sons and was raised by his mother and stepfather. Two of his brothers went to prison for drugs, and one of them died there as a result of complications from AIDS after using an infected needle. Another brother died at birth.

Dr. Bedden remembers living through desegregation and the hostility he experienced as a black student in the South.

He was bused at least 25 miles to all the schools he attended in Florida as part of the second group of students to integrate schools.

"I tell people all the time the desegregation order helped me," Dr. Bedden said.

The schools for black children only received hand-me-down books and supplies, he said, but he was able to attend new schools.

At times, he experienced deep-rooted racism firsthand.

"There were times when we played out of the county, and we had to keep our (football) helmets on and the windows rolled up," Dr. Bedden said about some of his experiences on the football team.

But he always stayed out of trouble, his mother Elsie Taylor said.

Except for that one time.

Ms. Taylor said he got into trouble once when his friends stole hubcaps and he served as a lookout.

Police arrested his friends, but let Dr. Bedden go because they could tell he didn't want to participate.

The police let him off, but he wasn't so lucky at home. Dr. Bedden said he begged the police to take him in and not to call his parents.

His stepfather made him do community service, and his coach made him perform extra workouts on the basketball court.

It was part of a strict upbringing and another lesson learned -- children can recover from mistakes.

As a child, if he did the dishes but missed one plate, his mother would throw all of the dishes back into the sink and make him wash them all again, he said.

And the same was true when cutting the grass. The lawn had to have precision lines cut into it or he would have to cut it over.

"It's always more efficient to do things right the first time," Dr. Bedden said.

He remembered a time when his mother told his brother to get a job within two weeks or get out of the house. She packed his bags and put them out on the porch.

Dr. Bedden was always held to high expectations.

"I was fortunate to have a mother who even with an eighth-grade education saw it was important I get mine," he said.

Ms. Taylor said she stressed the importance of an education.

"That was a must because I didn't finish," she said, recalling what she told him. "If you don't do anything for me in your life, please finish at least 12th grade."

His mother said he got his work ethic from her.

At the age of 70, when most are retired, she continues to work the night shift at a pharmacy, not getting off until 6 each morning.

His stepfather died a few years ago after suffering through bouts with diabetes, which resulted in his foot and leg being amputated.

At Osceola High School, Dr. Bedden was a three-year, three-sport letterman and an Outstanding Graduating Senior. He was recognized by the St. Petersburg Times as the all-county quarterback.

Dr. Bedden was accepted to West Point, but attended the University of Florida. He enlisted in the Army Reserves for a time, before returning to college. He earned degrees from Florida, Penn State and Virginia Tech.

From early on, teachers had high expectations of him.

"Teachers always said what I could do and not what I couldn't do," Dr. Bedden said. "I was expected to go to college by my teachers."

And athletes who didn't do well in class didn't compete, he said.

"I think I was very fortunate to have always had people in education who always believed in me," Dr. Bedden said. "The people in my life have shaped who I am, but I've got a long way to go to be the person God wants me to be."