April1 1996

I am sending out a "special edition" newsletter to those who sent letters of support to the renaming of the new high school in honor of Mrs. Stacey. At the January meeting, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name our new school Virginia A. Stacey Junior-Senior High School (beginning in 1997).

Jim Jones and I represented you at that meeting. I gave copies of the responses to the Board to show that the graduates had spoken. Jim then shared a few of the many reasons why Mrs. Stacey deserved such an honor. (Since you were here before these Board members, you are probably more aware of the zillions of things in Mrs. Stacey's history that make her such an advocate for education and for children!) Brief discussion followed, and then an enthusiastic unanimous vote followed.

We understand a bit of hesitation on your part to support changing the name of a school where you graduated and where some of us have made our home for over 20 years-remember, I began teaching at age 12! We work so hard here to establish traditions, and that's very, very difficult with our mobile population--you know that. However, traditions won't change. Our quest for excellence won't change. We will remain the Lackland Independent School District, and we will be known as Stacey Jr.-Sr. High School (just like Oliver Wendell Holmes High School and John Marshall High School are part of the Northside ISD.)

Most of you knew Mrs. Stacey as a teacher, and you know and understand her dedication to our profession. You know her tenacity to get things done--we know that without her, these buildings would not be going up now. She spends countless hours and days in Washington, DC, "fighting" for our needs. What a worker she is!

We are proud to look forward to working in Stacey Jr.-Sr. High School, and we thank you for supporting that effort. Our facilities will change, our buildings will be new, our name will be different, but "we" will be the same.

Come see us when you have the opportunity! Again, thank you for being part of a very important change.

Happy summer!

Mrs. Cynthia Lyon