HJ5019: Commending Lee Hall Elementary School on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5019
Offered April 12, 2006
Commending Lee Hall Elementary School on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
Patrons-- Hamilton, BaCote, Oder and Rapp; Senators: Norment and Williams

WHEREAS, Lee Hall Elementary School, a Newport News Public School, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2006; and

WHEREAS, Lee Hall Elementary School, home of the Engineers, got its name from nearby Lee Hall, the mansion of the prosperous tobacco planter, Richard Decatur Lee, built around 1850; and

WHEREAS, Lee Hall Elementary School, built between 1953 and 1954, was planned as a 22-room elementary school to alleviate overcrowding in the Warwick County Schools; and

WHEREAS, construction was delayed, but because of the great need for additional space, the school was opened with about a dozen classrooms in November 1955; and

WHEREAS, in 1956 Lee Hall Elementary School was officially dedicated and was fully operational as an elementary school with first through seventh grades; and

WHEREAS, at the time, Lee Hall Elementary School was the northern-most school in Newport News and primarily served the students in the communities of Lee Hall, Fort Eustis, and the Naval Weapons Station; and

WHEREAS, in 2006 Lee Hall Elementary School has an enrollment of 655 students in kindergarten through fifth grade; and

WHEREAS, Lee Hall Elementary School was proud to open the Lee Hall Early Childhood Center as part of its facility in February 2006, serving 180 children; and

WHEREAS, an integral and vital partner with the community, Lee Hall Elementary School is fully accredited in accordance with the Commonwealth’s Standards of Learning and has met Annual Yearly Progress requirements for No Child Left Behind; and

WHEREAS, Lee Hall Elementary School is committed to the academic success of all of its students and is dedicated to the mission of meeting the needs of a varied but highly transient community and to promoting a close working relationship between home and school through shared responsibility and mutual respect; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend and congratulate Lee Hall Elementary School on the occasion of its 50th anniversary; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Vikki Wismer, principal of Lee Hall Elementary School, as an expression of the appreciation of the General Assembly for the school's commitment to the young people of Newport News.