[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 8, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DR. ROSA ATKINS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. THOMAS S.P. PERRIELLO

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 8, 2010

  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, today I wish to recognize Dr. Rosa 
Atkins, who was named Virginia's Superintendent of the Year on May 20, 
2010. Last October, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan attended a 
roundtable discussion at Greenbrier Elementary--our Blue Ribbon 
school--with area school superintendents. In that meeting, Secretary 
Duncan saw in Rosa Atkins what we see every day, and what the Virginia 
Association of School Superintendents recognized with this award--an 
educator fiercely determined to lift all of her students.
  It is a task worthy of Hercules, but she accomplishes it with grace 
and seemingly with ease.
  But we know closing the achievement gap is not easy. It is especially 
difficult in tough economic times. But Dr. Atkins has tenaciously 
persevered and the results are remarkable--and ongoing.
  You would be hard pressed to identify a single job more important to 
a community than school superintendent, and you would be hard pressed 
to identify a single individual better suited to that job than Dr. Rosa 
Atkins. On behalf of Virginia's 5th District, I offer my deepest 
appreciation for her service to our students.

                          ____________________