Editor, The Herald:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and encouragement to the naming of the newly renovated schools on Route 20 in Buckingham County in honor of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Your support and encouragement led to an outpouring of agreement by many in the community. The Buckingham School Board is to be saluted for the academic progress and success achieved by each school in the Division. With Board support and encouragement teachers, students and administrators have been working diligently to carry out their responsibilities as evidenced by the achievement of goals set. All schools are fully accredited.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the Board for allowing me the privilege of spending ten years serving as coordinator of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program. During my tenure I had their positive support that enabled me to bring many prevention programs and activities to all the Division's schools.

The Board is to be complimented on the rebuilding of the education complex on Route 20 and I am struck by their vision to build such a magnificent education complex. This truly is a testament of their commitment to provide the best for the students of Buckingham County. Without a doubt the new complex deserves the honor and privilege of being named the “Dr. Carter G. Woodson Education Complex: Buckingham Primary and Elementary Schools”.

Dr. Woodson, world renowned for his extensive study of the life and education of the Negro, heralded as the Father of Negro History Week (now month), celebrated for his rise from poverty and immediate slave background, epitomizes virtues we would like today's youth to emulate.

The naming of the new facility “The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Education Complex: Buckingham Primary and Elementary Schools”, not only honors the memory of this great American educator but presents to the students a living legacy of what they can become with hard work and dedication. Buckingham's education community and community-at-large can point with pride to the forwardness of the School Board in making the decision to name the complex in honor of a Buckingham native son.

Marie Gillespie

Former Coordinator Buckingham County's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program