H*5108 Resolution, By M. McLeod, G. Brown, Canty, J.H. Neal, Woodrum and Harvin
 A HOUSE RESOLUTION TO COMMEND MRS. VIRGINIA K. RAY OF SUMTER, DIRECTOR OF THE
 CONSOLIDATED ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR SUMTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS TWO
 AND SEVENTEEN, FOR HER MORE THAN FORTY-ONE YEARS OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AS A
 NATIONALLY KNOWN EDUCATOR, THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OF WHICH HAVE BEEN IN SOUTH
 CAROLINA, UPON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT.

   05/23/00  House  Introduced and adopted HJ-11

TO COMMEND MRS. VIRGINIA K. RAY OF SUMTER, DIRECTOR OF THE CONSOLIDATED ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR SUMTER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS TWO AND SEVENTEEN, FOR HER MORE THAN FORTY-ONE YEARS OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AS A NATIONALLY KNOWN EDUCATOR, THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OF WHICH HAVE BEEN IN SOUTH CAROLINA, UPON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT.

Whereas, Mrs. Virginia K. Ray of Sumter is one of South Carolina's most distinguished educators who is known throughout the State for her enormous creativity, resourcefulness, capacity for work, and ability to engender cooperation; and

Whereas, in 1966, after seven years of teaching in Florida and Colorado, Mrs. Ray came to South Carolina and Sumter School District Two as an elementary teacher. She rose to positions as an elementary and middle school principal and as the district's early childhood education coordinator. Mrs. Ray is the current director of the consolidated adult education programs for Sumter County School Districts Two and Seventeen; and

Whereas, as Director of Adult Education in a collaborative effort with the city and county of Sumter, she started the award-winning South Sumter Resources Center, a community-based center whose mission is to serve residents of an area ranking high in illiteracy, social needs, unemployment, and crime. The center is among the first to provide daytime programs for adults and among the first to employ the concept of "one-stop" for educational, social, economic, and employment services; and

Whereas, six years after opening, the center provides adult education classes, including GED preparation, parenting activities, individual counseling, job and career exploration, health checkups, after-school tutorials for children, community oriented policing, and Department of Health and Environmental Control family planning. The center is also the site for community meetings, and it houses an Early Childhood Head Start Program and a library branch; and

Whereas, the National Community Education Association awarded the center its 1996 Multicultural Leadership and Involvement award for its "commitment to promoting, developing, and nurturing leadership opportunities in community education for persons of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds"; and

Whereas, Mrs. Ray has also brought international recognition to South Carolina for the Opportunity Plus Program. In 1994, under her direction, Sumter County Adult Education began this program for "at-risk" youth who had dropped out or been expelled from traditional high schools. The program integrates school and workplace using student field trips to a wide variety of businesses; and

Whereas, the Opportunity Plus Program has added nearly two hundred new meaningful words to the speaking and writing vocabularies of its students, increased their reading level 2.3 grades on average, and dramatically increased the number of students passing South Carolina's writing exam; and

Whereas, in addition to the tremendous impact she has had in adult education, she has also set high standards and brought excellence, distinction, and national awards to elementary and secondary education programs in South Carolina; and

Whereas, as principal of Shaw Heights Elementary School, she led the school to recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School. Shaw Heights Elementary, the first Sumter County school to receive this award, was honored in 1987-88 for school leadership, a challenging curriculum, engaging instructors, student achievement, and parental involvement; and

Whereas, as principal of High Hills Middle School, Mrs. Ray was very involved with the school PTA. Through her support, that organization was selected to receive the national Parent Teacher Association's Advocate for Children award. This award, given annually to only about fifty PTA organizations across the country, was the first for a South Carolina PTA; and

Whereas, she has received numerous honors and recognitions for her many outstanding achievements during her career including being named South Carolina Adult/Community Education Director of the Year in 1998, PTA District XIII Principal of the Year, and recipient of the Pee Dee Literacy Council's Exemplary Service Award in 1996; and

Whereas, the House of Representatives, by this resolution, would like to publicly recognize and congratulate this outstanding educator for her truly distinguished career upon the occasion of her retirement. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the House of Representatives hereby commend Mrs. Virginia K. Ray of Sumter, Director of the Consolidated Adult Education Programs for Sumter County School Districts Two and Seventeen, for her more than forty-one years of distinguished service as a nationally known educator, thirty-four years of which have been in South Carolina, upon the occasion of her retirement.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to

Mrs. Virginia K. Ray.