New Bermuda middle school will honor Elizabeth Davis
By Donna C. Gregory ASSISTANT EDITOR

Davis

A new middle school to be built in the Bermuda District will be named after former School Board member Beth Davis, who passed away last June.

The Chesterfield School Board voted unanimously last week to name the school Elizabeth B. Davis Middle School in memory of Davis' long service to the community.

The School Board is also seeking public input on the naming of three other new schools being built in the county. The public is being asked to submit their suggestions on names for an elementary school in the Bermuda District, and elementary and middle schools in the Matoaca District. Schools are usually named after their locations, like Cosby High School.

After the vote to name the Bermuda middle school after Davis, each board member said a few words about their late friend. Davis' family was in attendance for the vote.

Chairman Marshall Trammell Jr. recalled the advice Davis gave him when he first joined the board: Be true to yourself. Be true to your family. And never forget your students are always first.

"She lived that," remarked Trammell.

"She spent her life making a difference and what a legacy to leave," said Vice Chairman Jim Schroeder. "She made a difference in her family, school, everywhere."

Supervisors Kelly Miller and Dickie King also attended the meeting.

"I have lost a team member. I have lost a friend, and I don't have many friends to lose," joked Miller, who represents the Dale District. "I miss her, and I will continue to miss her."

Davis was the longest serving member of the current School Board. She was initially appointed to the School Board to represent the Dale District in September 1990. In 1995, she became one of the first members elected to the School Board when it switched to an elected - instead of an appointed - board. Davis served as School Board chair in 1993 and 2003. She was serving as the board's vice chair when she passed away after a battle with cancer.

The Elizabeth B. Davis Middle School will be located just south of East Hundred Road at its intersection with Interstate 295. It will open in fall 2008.

In other board action:

Members received an update on student enrollments and the number of teachers hired for the new school year. There are 983 more students enrolled in county schools this year than in 2005.

The school system also hired 397 new teachers this year. Forty-three percent of the new teachers had Master's degrees.

Chesterfield continues to have difficulty recruiting science, math, foreign language and special education teachers, mirroring a nationwide trend in these shortage areas.

Robious Middle School welcomed 134 students on opening day after neighboring Falling Creek Middle School failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind guidelines. All Falling Creek students were given the option of transferring to Robious, because the school did not make annual yearly progress (AYP) in several student subgroups.

"No Child Left Behind is a nice title, but the details of it fall far short. Falling Creek made AYP. It was just a couple of small subgroups that didn't make AYP," argued Schroeder.

"I hope we never have to go through this again," said Trammell, "and if we have anything to do with it, it won't happen again."