Board of Education celebrates proclamation of Freedom Week

By Adam Pack
The Greenbrier County Board of Education met briefly on Tuesday, Aug. 8, to declare that the week of Nov. 6 will be “Celebrate Freedom Week.” An initiative coming as the result of legislation recently passed by the state legislature states that county boards of educations shall, “establish a week recognized as ‘Celebrate Freedom Week’ during the regular school year. The purpose of ‘Celebrate Freedom Week’ is to educate students about the sacrifices made for freedom in the founding of this country and the values on which this country was founded.”
The declaration goes on to specify that this will include instruction centered around The Constitution of the United States, The Declaration of Independence, and The Emancipation Proclamation, with special emphasis on “firmly establishing the historical background leading to the establishment of the provisions of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights by the Founding Fathers for the purpose of safeguarding our Constitutional Republic.”
The Board approved the declaration and look forward to Celebrate Freedom Week in Greenbrier County later this year.
The board was also treated to a brief “meet and greet” with new Greenbrier West High School principal Adam Young. Young spoke about his upbringing in Nicholas County and career experience, which included a stint in the State House of Delegates while teaching Social Studies at Nicholas County High School and the assistant principal position at Webster County High School. When asked if there was anything he would change, Young replied that “coming into a place and changing everything on day one is a very bad decision, generally speaking” in his view. Instead, he said that he was more interested in watching and waiting, listening all the way to the needs and opinions of his staff. He praised his staff for keeping “a wonderful facility, both from the sports side and the campus side.”
The Greenbrier County Board of Education will meet again on Sept. 12 at the Kyle & Ann Fort Arts and Science Center. As this is the first meeting within the 2023/24 school year, the meeting will be moved to 6 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend. Interested parties should call 304-647-6470 to confirm meeting time, date, and location prior, as they are subject to change.