[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 126 (Wednesday, September 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2219-E2220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO HARRIET BUCY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, Jr.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 9, 2009

  Mr. SPRATT. Madam Speaker, I want to call the attention of the House 
to the remarkable life and work of Harriet Bucy, because it is 
inspiring and a shining model of what citizenship in a democracy is all 
about,
  When Harriet Bucy died on May 8, 2008, she left a void in her 
community. She was one of those rare individuals who seem to have more 
energy and enterprise than the rest of us. Only a week before her 
death, the City Council of Rock Hill recognized Harriet Bucy for her 
role in having Rock Hill selected among the one hundred best 
communities in America for young people. Accomplishments like these 
will last long after her.
  Harriet Bucy was an artist and used her passion for art to teach it 
to others. Her spirit and ability as a teacher won her the notice of 
school district officials, and she was drafted for a succession of 
assignments. In each, it became clear that she had a gift for inspiring 
and managing others.
  Harriet Bucy was a founder of the Rock Hill School District 
Foundation, and helped it build a network of support, and provide 
numerous teachers with thousands of dollars in scholarship grants. Like 
other institutions she created, it carries on.
  Harriet Bucy started the Community and Leadership Support Program, 
better known as CLASP, and continued forging relationships

[[Page E2220]]

between schools and organizations in the community. Governor Riley's 
Education Improvement Act mandated more involvement between schools and 
community, without specifying how these relationships were to be 
created. Harriet Bucy built the model that worked, not only in Rock 
Hill but in other districts who came to see what Rock Hill had 
accomplished under her guidance.
  I have attached a eulogy in tribute to Harriet Bucy published in the 
Herald, shortly after her death, and ask that it be printed after my 
statement, as a memorial to this woman ``with an overarching ability of 
bringing people together.''

                    [From the Herald, Sept. 9, 2009]

                         Bucy Served Community

       Harriet Bucy always contended that a community partnership 
     was more than just a financial contribution. A real 
     partnership involved families, business and industry, clubs, 
     the faith community and organizations.
       Bucy, who died Thursday at the age of 69, proved how 
     important such a partnership could be during her 23 years as 
     the Rock Hill school district's first community leadership 
     director. That partnership has endured.
       The Rock Hill school district was among the first in the 
     state to fully embrace mandates in the 1984 Education 
     Improvement Act to involve parents, businesses and the 
     community more in schools. But the EIA did not provide a 
     blueprint for how to do that and, when Bucy signed on, she 
     practically had to invent her own job.
       Fortunately, she was not at all reluctant to do that. One 
     goal was to bring in donations, and she was particularly 
     adept at the business end of the job, soliciting millions of 
     dollars worth of donations and volunteer hours each year.
       But she also had taught private art classes while her three 
     sons were growing up and had taught art and history at 
     Rawlinson Road Middle School from 1982 to 1985 when the 
     school was a junior high school. So, she brought both a love 
     of art and a passion for educating children to the job.
       She worked with Rock Hill Clean & Green to create an 
     environmental education and recycling program. She worked 
     with what then was the Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce to 
     sponsor an education initiative. She enlisted teachers and 
     parents to create the Rock Hill Reads program.
       Much of this came under the umbrella of CLASP, the 
     district's Community Leadership and Support Program. Bucy 
     also worked closely with the district's Dropout Prevention 
     Network, New Teacher Institute and America's Promise project, 
     and was active in civic work such as supporting the York 
     County Museum.
       Bucy soon was being consulted by other school districts in 
     the state. Rock Hill's program became a model not only for 
     school districts in the state but also nationwide.
       Her overarching talent was an ability to bring together 
     people from all parts of the community, from different 
     backgrounds and different lifestyles, all for the purpose of 
     furthering the quality of education. That good work has 
     provided the foundation for programs that will continue to 
     serve the needs of children for generations to come.
       A grateful community joins her family and many friends in 
     mourning her loss.

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