Press release from Asheville City Schools:
Vance Elementary School officially has a new name! During the February 1, 2021, meeting, in a unanimous vote, the Asheville City Board of Education voted on a new name, Lucy S. Herring Elementary School.
For fifty-two years Lucy Herring dedicated her life to teaching; thirty-five of these years were spent in Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools. She served as a teacher in Swannanoa, and at Asheville’s Hill Street Elementary and Stephens Lee High School. Later Ms. Herring became principal at Mountain Street Elementary, a school that was later named in her honor. She was founder and director of a summer reading clinic for teachers at NC College at Durham and was Associate Professor and Director of Reading at Livingstone College in Salisbury. Ms. Herring was also a member of the Asheville Chapter of the American Association of University Women, Gamma Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and a lifelong member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The names of the five women originally recommended to the Board of Education were: Lucy S. Herring, Christine Avery, Gladys Pierce Forney, Elynora M. Foster, and Florence Green. All five were Black, female educators in Asheville City Schools.
The task force believes it is important to honor all five nominees. Conversations will continue about the best way to do that.
We are excited to begin the work of officially transitioning to Lucy S. Herring Elementary School and are grateful for all the efforts of the staff, administration, and Vance Renaming Task Force.
One small step for a community, one giant leap for humanity.