News Home

By Paul Garber
JOURNAL REPORTER
JournalNow

There is finally an American flag flying over Lewisville Elementary School.

The school's last flag got too ragged to fly. It was not replaced for several months, which disappointed some of the students and staff.

"When I started working in October, there was no flag, which bothered me a lot," said school secretary Jeanne Dasher. "I think it's so very, very, important, especially now."

Dasher said she scoured the office for a flag but found only the old one that had been taken down.

"It was really tattered, and the edges were very frayed," she said.

Finding a new flag was more difficult than she thought it would be, she said. She was not sure who she needed to order one from and there was some confusion over whether a replacement flag had already been ordered.

Even some of the school's youngest students noticed the flag was missing. First-grade teacher Debbie Hughes said that his students liked the flag not only because it symbolized America but also because they checked it regularly to see how fast the wind was blowing.

The solution came from the nation's capital.

Student body president Clarke Rudy, 11, knew that federal officials often donate flags that have flown over the U.S. Capitol and other Washington landmarks to schools. So Rudy wrote to U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, asking if she could get such a flag for Lewisville Elementary.

Foxx went to the school Monday to deliver the flag, and Rudy helped raise a flag, flanked by Foxx and members of the American Legion Post 522.

"It was cool," Rudy said.

But another mix-up kept the flag story from ending there.

Foxx thought the flag that had flown over the capitol had been shipped to the school before her arrival. When she found out Monday it had not, she sent one of her local staff members, Todd Poole, to Smitherman's Hardware to buy one, so they would have something to raise.

Foxx said she will send an official flag to replace the one that is now flying at the school.

Dasher said the current flag, even if temporary, fills the void.

"I'm very happy we're flying the flag today," she said as she looked out her window.

• Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com