ABINGDON, Va. – At his last meeting before retiring from the Washington County School Board, Buckey Boone had two pieces of advice for his fellow board members.
First, he said, “I hope that this board will continue in its efforts to bring parents in the school system and the staff in the school system and other community members on board in an effort to show our legislators and our supervisors why it’s so important that school system gets funded at a decent level.”
Second, he said, improving the schools actually begins before children ever start school.
“We have to start with the children before kindergarten, and the schools can’t do that, but we can work with other community agencies and families in the community to improve the lives of very young children so that they’re more prepared,” he said. “If we join in coalitions with the Department of Social Services, Head Start, the Smart Beginnings Coalition, places like that, we can make a difference even though it isn’t just our program.”
Boone, who has served 12 years on the board, also praised his fellow board members for their continued support of art and music as important to children’s education, throughout the period of budget cuts in the last few years.
Other school board members also had parting words for Boone.
“You and I are completely different,” said board member Herschel Stevens. “You’re a man of peace and persuasion and understanding, and I’m a loudmouth with the highways or my way … but we did have common ground because both of us believe in God and the Constitution of the United States, and we could work out our differences for things to improve this education system.”
Calling up a court case the board was involved in years ago, Stevens described Boone under pressure.
“Your deposition was not harmful, but it was truthful, and I found out right then that if you deal with Buckey Boone he’s smart, he’s intelligent, he’s honorable and knowledgeable and he’s cooperative,” he said.
Board member Elizabeth Lowe thanked Boone for never losing focus of what’s most important.
“He has been in all the time he’s been on the School Board the most child-focused of any of the members,” Lowe said, “and with that focus on children, he had to work with us mere adults in accomplishing good things for kids.”
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