(Vance County Schools Press Release)
Vance County Schools is proud to announce that Marion Perry, an outstanding volunteer in our school system and particularly for Carver Elementary School, was named the Citizen of the Year for 2015 at the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet on February 4, 2016.
Our school system also is proud to announce that Flat Rock United Methodist Church in Vance County has been named the recipient of the school system’s Shining Moment in Education Award for 2015-2016 as the most outstanding business partner for our schools. Flat Rock United Methodist has a phenomenal partnership with E.O. Young Jr. Elementary School in Middleburg. Principal Marylaura McKoon and Karen Reece, E.O. Young’s social worker, presented the crystal vase and engraved base for the Shining Moment award to the Rev. Cathy Hoyle, pastor of Flat Rock United Methodist Church.
Mrs. Perry and Flat Rock church are true champions of public education and their support results in great things in our local schools.
Mrs. Perry leads Carver Elementary’s One Step Above Reading Club weekly for students who need extra help in improving their reading skills. She promotes the joys and importance of reading to the children. She sponsors several special events each school year at the school, including a “Welcome Back” event for school staff members at the beginning of the year and the Black History Month Celebration in February. Mrs. Perry also seeks support for the school system throughout our community and serves on several boards and committees in our area, most notably the Vance County Public School Foundation and the Friends of Perry Memorial Library Board.
Flat Rock United Methodist Church has sponsored a summer reading program for the last two years for identified students at E.O. Young Jr. Elementary who need help during the summer to enhance their reading skills. 
The program, which includes several church members as volunteers who tutor students, has proven to help students successfully prepare for the oncoming school year. Flat Rock members also donate nonperishable food items for identified students in the Backpack Buddies program through the year and assist needy students and families during the holidays.
Finally, Vance County Schools wants to announce that staff members in our Maintenance and Transportation departments are the first to be honored through our new Vanceformation Award Program. They were given their Vanceformation lapel pins at the February 8, 2016, meeting of the Vance County Board of Education and recognized for their outstanding efforts in preparing school system vehicles, facilities and campuses for the return of students and employees after a snowstorm in late January. Those recognized included from the Maintenance Department, Wayne Cozart, Jimmy Faulkner, Shon Jones, Jay Kearney, Guy McFaddin, Joe Norwood, Chris Pulley, Ricky Railey and Robert Watson; and from the Transportation Department, R.C. Creech, Ryan Smiley and Jimmy Waverly.
Thank you all for your outstanding efforts to help us rethink, reform, reimagine and renew our educational mission.
