The show of support was crystal clear for a man who many call “a living legend.”
Community leaders gathered Monday evening at a meeting at the Gifford Community Center to back the effort to rename a room at Vero Beach High School after Dr. A. Ronald Hudson. Vero Beach High School, where Dr. Hudson became the first Black principal over the campus from 1981 to 1984, has an administrative suite that leaders want renamed to the “Dr. A. Ronald Hudson Administrative Suite.”
“There’s no other person more fitting than Dr. Hudson. He was my mentor,” said Tony Brown, president of the NAACP Indian River County Chapter during a special presentation held at the group’s regular meeting. “It’s very important that while he’s still alive he can smell his roses.”
The group of up to 100 people agreed unanimously to rename the suite in Hudson’s honor. The vote will go before the Indian River County School Board, who will decide whether the name change will continue at its Sept. 23 meeting.
Dr. A. Ronald Hudson PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS
Board members will present a proclamation honoring Hudson and then decide if he will have the room renamed in his namesake. The school board meeting starts at 6 p.m., but residents coming to support Hudson should arrive by 5:30 p.m. to get a seat.
“It will take four out of five school board members (supermajority) to say ‘yes’,” said Dr. Peggy Jones, who spoke at the community forum.
Hudson, 93, is known as a local barrier-breaker who passionately mentored the community’s youth. The retired educator made his mark in Indian River County.
Hudson served as the first Black assistant superintendent of instruction in the school district. He also was principal over five schools: Wabasso Elementary School, Douglas Elementary School, Rosewood Elementary School, Vero Beach Junior High School and Vero Beach High School.
Hudson co-founded the Gifford Youth Achievement Center with Dr. William “Bill” Nigh and Dan K. Richardson.
Indian River County commissioners previously honored Hudson by giving him a proclamation on June 29. The proclamation declared the last Saturday in June as Dr. A. Ronald Hudson Day.
Naming the suite at Vero Beach High School will be the latest effort in recognizing the accomplishments of Hudson, whom many consider a community pillar. Brown, along with other community leaders including Dr. Jones, vice-chairperson of the Indian River County School Board, and Kevin Browning, second vice-president and education chairperson of the NAACP Indian River County Chapter, spoke about Hudson’s impact.
Several organizations and groups pledged their support to rename the room after Dr. Hudson. Some of those organizations include the Gifford Youth Achievement Center, Vero Beach High School basketball and band boosters clubs, Vero Beach High School African-American Council, the Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center, Promise Keepers, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Team Success Enterprises, Inc., Progressive Civic League of Gifford, the Pastors Association of Indian River County, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Gifford Heritage and Community Enrichment Association and more.
“The support is unbelievable,” Jones said. “(Hudson) connected with everyone – young, old, Black, white, Hispanic… he was my mentor for sure. He brought me on as a dean at Vero Beach High School in 1985.”
Jones said the committee of community members will officially vote on Tuesday to move forward with plans to rename the suite. The vote will be sent to Vero Beach High School Principal Shawn O’Keefe, and then to the School District Superintendent Dr. David Moore.
The vote will then be put on the school board’s agenda for the Sept. 23 meeting. Jones said leaders were also planning to install a plaque bearing Hudson’s image at Vero Beach High School sometime in October.
Photos by Nick Samuel
