Bill Text: DE SCR119 | 2021-2022 | 151st General Assembly | Draft
Bill Title: Marking The 100th Anniversary Of Dovers Elizabeth W. Murphey School.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-06-29 - Passed In House by Voice Vote [SCR119 Detail]
Download: Delaware-2021-SCR119-Draft.html
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SPONSOR: |
Sen. Paradee & Rep. Lynn |
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Sens. Bonini, Hocker, Lawson, Lopez, Wilson; Reps. Carson, Griffith, Yearick |
DELAWARE STATE SENATE
151st GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 119
MARKING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF DOVER’S ELIZABETH W. MURPHEY SCHOOL.
WHEREAS, the Elizabeth W. Murphey School was established in the City of Dover, Delaware in October 1922 and is this year marking the 100th Anniversary of its founding; and
WHEREAS, the school was founded by Mr. Sanford S. Murphey as a tribute to his mother, Elizabeth W. Murphey, a longtime resident of Dover; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Murphey had grown up in Dover but moved to Denver, Colorado as a young man, where he became a successful businessman working in the coal industry, becoming in the process widely respected not only for his business success but also for his compassion for his employees, stating late in his life that he had never heard of a strike in his mines; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Murphey returned to Dover and founded the institution which he called a “school,” even though it was not a formal educational establishment as such, because, as he said, “I wish [the Murphey School] to be free from those unhappy associations which so often have been connected with orphanages and children, and furthermore because I conceive the rearing of children in all aspects as an educational work”; and
WHEREAS, he based the name on his belief that the education of children was a twenty-four hour job, not simply an activity that took place inside a classroom; and
WHEREAS, in founding the Murphey School, Mr. Murphey noted:
“I am devoting the means which I have been able to accumulate during a lifetime of active effort. It is my life’s work. Through it I choose to honor the memory of my mother in the community where she lived and to render some service in the community in which I was born and spent my early life.”
“It is my desire that this institution shall be a fostering home where children who would otherwise be neglected.”; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Murphey said that the purpose of the school was to meet as much as possible the needs of every child in its care in order that they be prepared to meet and deal with whatever problems their future lives would entail, and that they would become the kinds of citizens “of whom all will be proud”; and
WHEREAS, today the Murphey School is a nonprofit organization which provides residential group care and transitional care for homeless children ages six to 18, and sometimes to age 22; and
WHEREAS, contact between children and their families is encouraged, and each youth beyond the age of 16 is offered a mentor to address job skills, money management, interpersonal skills, transportation, and educational planning; and
WHEREAS, the school’s independent/transitional living program also works with high school graduates to continue these services, utilizing two homes dedicated to providing up to eight 18-to-22-year-old young adults who need housing as they work toward independence; and
WHEREAS, the keynote of the Murphey School is the individual child who has a distinct personality, and its residential programs are designed to provide supervision and direction to youth referred for care throughout Delaware, with referrals for admission being accepted from the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families, which monitors and licenses the facility; and
WHEREAS, residents in the program must be eligible to attend area schools, with participation in school-related activities being encouraged; and
WHEREAS, children are professionally assessed, and tutoring and therapeutic support services are provided as needed; and
WHEREAS, the school is overseen by an appointed board of directors who serve without compensation and provide financial and program guidelines to the executive director and other staff members; and
WHEREAS, the school campus consists of a complex of Georgian-Revival-style structures housing dormitories and office and meeting space; and
WHEREAS, the Elizabeth W. Murphey School has done an extremely effective job over the past century of fulfilling its founder’s hopes that “every child in its care be prepared to meet and deal with whatever problems their future lives would entail, and that they would become the kinds of citizens ‘of whom all will be proud’”; and
WHEREAS, among the many alumnae of the Murphey School who have gone on to lead worthwhile and successful lives is one man who served for many years as the mayor of Dover; and
WHEREAS, this remarkable facility has throughout its long history of service to the youth of the First State been nearly unique in the services it provides to its young residents, who come together to form their own family, as shown by a story told in a recent speech to the Capital City Rotary Club by Murphey School staffer Eddie Cregar of how students help each other, giving the example of a 17-year-old teaching a six-year-old how to tie his shoelaces; and
WHEREAS, the Murphey School has for a century embodied the vision of Mr. Sanford Sayre Murphey in establishing it in the autumn of 1922.
NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the 151st General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the members do hereby extend warmest thanks and commendation to all those who are and have been a part of the Elizabeth W. Murphey School family over its century of service to the young people of our state.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members extend to all those involved with the Murphey School heartfelt best wishes for many more years of success in carrying out Mr. Murphey’s vision of service.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this concurrent resolution be presented, upon its passage, to the students, staff and directors of the Elizabeth W. Murphey School of Dover, Delaware.
SYNOPSIS
This Senate Concurrent Resolution extends the congratulations and best wishes of the members of the Delaware General Assembly to the students, staff, and directors of the Elizabeth W. Murphey School in recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the school in October 1922.
Author: Senator Paradee
