THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512150247
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
School and community leaders last Sunday celebrated the opening of a long-awaited school, Thurgood Marshall Elementary.
The new building, which opened its doors this fall, replaced the 50-year-old Park Elementary. The school was named for the late Supreme Court justice, the first black to serve on the high court.
School officials estimate that more than 500 people attended the dedication ceremony.
Marshall's son, John W. Marshall, was the keynote speaker. Marshall presented school officials an autographed photograph of his father, to be displayed in the building.
Students gave visitors tours of the facility.
Park Elementary, which originally opened in 1943 as the Riverdale School to serve some temporary military housing nearby, was demolished at the end of the 1993-94 school year.
The building had become delapidated and was increasingly inadequate for school programs.
Students attended classes in the old Truitt Middle School building during the 1994-95 school year, while their new school was under construction.
Thurgood Marshall was scheduled to be complete before school opened this year, but construction delays forced students and staff to remain in the Truitt building for the first few weeks of the school year.
The new building is larger and has state-of-the-art technology. by CNB