I’d like to take this opportunity to send out my best wishes to all for a safe, restful, and rewarding Thanksgiving Holiday.  This week marks the end of my first week in office, and I already have so many things to be thankful for as your Superintendent of Schools.  I’m thankful for all the wonderful teachers, staff members, and students we have in the Holmes District Schools.  I’m thankful for all the new friends I made the last 28 months while being employed by the Jackson County School Board and the old friendships that were rekindled or strengthened.  I wish all good blessings and positive outcomes for our neighbors and am so thankful I could be a small part of their lives because they became such a large part of mine.

This past year, and really the last two have been a challenge in all of our lives, but I hope that each of us will take time to reflect and also recognize the positive that time span may have brought into our lives.  One of America’s greatest Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt made this comment during his first inaugural address in 1932, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  I think during this time in our nation and in our world that statement still carries much weight and wisdom.  Roosevelt was speaking at a time of great uncertainty.  The world and our nation was in the midst of the Great Depression, huge unrest and the rise of Nazism in Europe was upon us, and uncertainty gripped most of civilized humanity.  Roosevelt was imploring this nation to hold the course of our basic principles and beliefs and to maintain confidence, not necessarily in the mighty dollar, but in one another. If you have time I urge you to look up this speech and listen to it in its entirety.  I think this message is just as appropriate today as it was in 1932.

I am a man of faith, and with that faith I believe in the principles of faith that surround the Thanksgiving holiday.  I pray and hope for safety in your travels over the next week.  I pray you have the opportunity to spend time with loved ones and friends.  I pray for the safety of our men and women in uniform, both military and civilian, that stand watch over us prepared to give all for our freedoms and our way of life.  I hope each of you will be socially responsible in your travels and the time you spend with others, and I pray for a time of calmness and peace in our community, our nation, and our world.  Thank you.

Buddy L. Brown
Superintendent of Schools