Samuel Massie

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: August 3, 2008

Adults are always worried about the younger generation, and with good reason.

The youth of this community are our future, and their problems affect all of us.

But most adults don’t do much beyond worrying and speculating and judging and disparaging.

Samuel Massie wasn’t one of those people. He was a man who spent a lifetime working with kids who needed help. He was a teacher, tough and strong as well as wise and caring.

That’s why it was so shocking to learn that Massie drowned last week in a nearby Rockingham County, N.C., pond.

Massie spent his early teaching career in two of Danville’s middle schools. Students in middle school face a tough time — they are too old to be children and too young to be adults. Massie worked his way up to become assistant principal of Westmoreland Middle in 1981 and principal in 1988.

Eventually, he served as principal of the Opportunity School, which eventually became Fresh Start Academy and finally the John M. Langston Focus School.

While the names changed, the emphasis of all three schools was the same — to provide an alternative education.

“I just want what’s best for the children in our community,” Massie said in an interview last year. “… These are students that want to come in. They realize they need a non-traditional program.”

Massie’s schools weren’t a dumping ground for kids with discipline problems. While some students were referred there by the school system’s Disciplinary Hearing Board, most were there by choice.

They wanted to take advantage of the smaller class sizes and more individualized instruction.

“The team of educators in this unique alternative educational setting believes that the quality of success lies in sharing one’s vision and encouraging others by setting an example, giving praise, advice, and credit,” Massie wrote on his school’s Web site. “Students who enter the corridors of this institution are made to feel good about themselves even when others may have given up on them.”

Massie was smart enough to know that you couldn’t give up on a child. That was the most important lesson this lifelong educator had to teach the community he served with distinction and dedication for so many years. He will be missed.