HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Long before the school board voted to rename an elementary school after her, Georgia’s former first lady already established an exceptional bond with local education and literacy.
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The Hall County Board of Education announced on Wednesday they have broken ground on an elementary school on Ramsey Road that will be named Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School.
Deal served as a teacher in the Hall County School District for many years, including serving at Tadmore Elementary, North Hall High School and North Hall Middle School.
Deal’s mother, Ida Lou Waldrep Dunagan, taught second grade at White Sulphur Elementary.
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Superintendent Will Schofield spoke about the former first lady’s devotion to education and 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. Sandra 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,” said Schofield.
The school is currently under construction and is expected to open in the fall of 2024. The elementary will replace White Sulphur and Riverbend Elementary Schools.
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Deal’s husband, Gov. 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.”
Deal passed away on August 23, 2022. She was 80.
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