VALDOSTA – Valdosta City Schools officials announced they will recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday, closing all offices and buildings.

Release:

During the Valdosta Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, June 14, Valdosta City Schools officials announced they will recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday. Juneteenth National Independence Day, which falls on Sunday, June 19, will be observed Monday, June 20, and all Valdosta City Schools offices and buildings will be closed.
On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, the most remote part of the Confederacy, to announce that the Civil War had ended and that all enslaved people were now free. Often referred to as the country’s “second Independence Day,” Juneteenth proclaims freedom and has been celebrated in many parts of the country since the late 1800s.

President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law declaring the day as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. In April of 2022, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed state legislation recognizing it as a state holiday.

All Valdosta City Schools staff and Summer School students will have the day off on Monday, June 20, the district will reopen on Tuesday, June 21.