BROOKSVILLE — It takes a village to raise a child.
Virgil Jones Jr. swears by that adage, and Virgil Jones Jr. would know: In addition to his nine children and the granddaughter he and his wife raised, Jones has innumerable ‘children’ from his 26 years as principal of Wilson Elementary School in Noxubee County. He’s 87 now and has been retired for over 30 years, but he still keeps up with them. They call him Daddy.
“When my wife passed, this house was full of my children,” he said. “They cried with me. They still come by. That’s the kind of relationship I had with them.”
Jones worked at Wilson from 1958 to 1984, during the integration struggle. Wilson was a black school, and even after integration it stayed a black school. According to Jones, the white school chose to disband and its students moved to a private school called Central Academy rather than integrate. Noxubee County School District had a white superintendent, but Jones said he was more a nice person than educator.
Despite the obstacles faced by black students, Jones and the staff at Wilson were committed to giving their students the best education possible. They took trips to observe other schools with good programs, regularly updated curriculum to meet students’ needs, and even brought in a reading specialist from Mississippi University for Women to work with kids. Jones said one year Wilson administered the California Achievement Test, a national measure of Reading, Language Arts Math skills, and most of the students tested at two or three levels above their grade level.
This earned Wilson a reputation as one of the best elementary schools around, according to Jones. He attributes his success at Wilson to the quality of the faculty.
“They were well-trained, competent teachers,” he said. “We were committed, as a team, to learning.”
Virgil Jones Jr. Elementary
Jones’ contributions to the community was so profound that a group of retired teachers and students formed a committee to find a way to honor him. Spearheaded by John Dixon, a former staff member of Jones,’ the committee polled the community and decided to rename Wilson Elementary the Virgil Jones Jr. Elementary School. On January 10 of this year, the school was officially renamed.
“People felt that it was a special honor to name the school after him while he was still alive,” Johnnie Walls, lead teacher at the school, said. “He’s done a lot for the community.”
Even in receiving this recognition, Jones deferred credit to his faculty. When he was first approached about the name change, he said he did not deserve the honor.
“I told them, it wasn’t me, it was all of us,” he said. “The teachers, the parents, the community — they gave the support. I didn’t do anything by myself. I just happened to be the leader of them.”
There is, however, one glaring exception to Jones’ humble attitude.
He coached the Wilson Elementary basketball team for years and makes no attempt to hide his pride in the team.
“They said we were the best in the country,” he said, grinning at the memory of beating a team that had been undefeated for three years. “Oh, they’d hate to see us coming!”
Which highlights another aspect of Jones’ teaching philosophy: competition. He used to have the classes face off in competitions where an audience of parents and other teachers could quiz them. The winning classes earned bragging rights and the occasional movie day. Even the teachers would get into the competition.
“They would fight like hell,” Jones said seriously.
Whatever tactics he used worked. Wilson graduates were typically the valedictorian and salutatorian at Noxubee County High School, and many of the graduates from Jones’ time still hold notable positions in the county today, including former circuit clerk Carl Mickens, the first African American mayor of Brooksville William D. Smith, sheriff Terry Grassaree, member of the board of supervisors Larry Tate, the first African American tax assessor Emmit Mickens, and the first black superintendent of Noxubee County School System, Reecy Dickson. One of his six sons, Dr. Kevin Jones, is currently the superintendent of the school district.
‘He’ll push you and push you’
Jerrika Anderson is Jones’ granddaughter. She was raised by him and his wife and has seen firsthand how her grandfather can inspire students.
“He sees stuff in people,” she said. “He realizes that they can go a lot further than where they are right now. And he’ll push you and push you until you get as high as you can possibly get to.”
Anderson received her undergraduate degree in three years from the University of Alabama, then went on to law school and received a third degree. She credits her advanced schooling to her grandfather’s emphasis on education.
Jones’ community impact did not stop after his time at Wilson. When he retired after 26 years, he went on to a career in insurance and founded a non-profit called the Noxubee County Citizen’s Improvement League, which aimed to increase opportunities for children in the county. He put eight children and one grandchild through college, with many obtaining advanced degrees. He also wrote a history of his church and is currently writing a history of Noxubee County from an African-American perspective.
Jones believes that this work is important so that his community can see where it came from. He believes that this education, like education in general, creates people who give back to their community. He believes his successes and the successes of his students are a result of the whole community working together.
“The school, the home, the business community, the religious institution, it takes the support of everybody, really,” he said. “You can’t do it alone.”
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