The Hall County Board of Education voted unanimously this evening to name its future elementary school on Ramsey Road, Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School.
Superintendent Will Schofield praised the late First Lady, Sandra Deal, for her life-long support of education and her advocacy for childhood literacy.
“Naming this school after a Hall County woman who devoted her life to the next generation represents everything that is good, noble, and true–in public education and in humanity,” Schofield said.
Deal grew up in New Holland and she taught and lived in North Hall. Later, as the First Lady of Georgia, she devoted her time to childhood literacy as she crossed the state, instilling the love of reading into countless thousands of elementary students.
“She was the perfect example of a life lived well for others,” Schofield added.
Deal was a teacher in the Hall County School District for many years, serving at Tadmore Elementary, North Hall High School, and North Hall Middle School. Her mother, Ida Lou Waldrep Dunagan, taught second grade at White Sulphur Elementary.
The new elementary school, which is currently under construction and slated to open its doors to students and staff in the fall of 2024, will replace both White Sulphur and Riverbend Elementary Schools. Those schools will be phased out of elementary service.
Sandra’s husband, Governor Nathan Deal, said, “Our family appreciates the honor the Hall County Board of Education has bestowed on Sandra by naming this new elementary school after her. She was an educator at heart! This will be a fitting memorial to her life as a teacher and as The First Lady of Georgia who was committed to literacy and learning.”
Hall County Board of Education Chair Craig Herrington noted Deal’s distinguished career in local education and advocacy for children’s literacy when he announced the new school’s name.
“It is appropriate that we honor and recognize Mrs. Deal’s dedication to the children of Hall County and Georgia. It is my privilege to announce that Hall County School’s newest elementary school will be named ‘Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary.'”
Sandra Deal retired with her husband to Habersham County when he left office. She passed away on August 23, 2022, after a four-year battle with cancer. She was 80 years old.
