SUFFOLK, Va. — The new Florence Bowser Elementary School in Suffolk held its dedication ceremony Sunday. 
Florence Bowser Elementary School reopened for its first school year this month.
The school is named for Florence Bowser, an educator and community organizer who taught in Suffolk and other Virginia areas for about 50 years, beginning in the late 1800s. The original school named for her was built in 1963 and closed for renovations in 2016.
“It just does something for the neighborhood and for the people that went to school at the old Florence, what we use to call grade school. It’s a step up from the past. And when I tour this building here and look at all the new things and the technologies that they have put in this building. Its been a long time coming.”
Bowser also helped start the first school for black students for Nansemond County in Suffolk.
