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George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are no longer suitable names for San Francisco public schools.
Explorers like Vasco Núñez de Balboa are also absent, as is Senator Dianne Feinstein.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Unified School District School Board voted to change the names of 42 schools due to suspected associations with slave ownership, colonization or oppression.
Those who supported the changes, which affect one-third of schools in the district, said the names should reflect a community’s values.
But opponents questioned why some names were included, while others said the focus should be on more substantive issues.
“What I see as an opportunity for our schools to embody the characteristics and feel a sense of pride in the name chosen,” said board chair Gabriela López, who voted in favor of changing last name. “This in no way erases our history. It cannot and we will not forget the past. But we can honor the work that has been done to dismantle racism and the culture of white supremacy.
Despite his august reputation as president who led the Union during the Civil War and ended slavery, Lincoln is “not considered a hero” by many Native Americans, according to a member of the renaming committee appointed by the school board.
Feinstein, who has an elementary school named after her, was put on the list because of controversies decades ago, during her time as mayor, involving the redevelopment of a building that had housed Chinese tenants. and Filipino, as well as an incident involving a Confederate flag. at the town hall.
Through a spokesperson, Feinstein, who has represented California in the US Senate since 1992, declined to comment.
Each school has until April 19 to submit suggestions for new names to the Name Change Committee, which will then propose final options to the board.
Commissioner Kevine Boggess, the only dissenting voice, said in Tuesday’s meeting that he was opposed to naming schools after people, especially elected officials. He proposed a review of naming policies across the district.
“I think it’s not useful for us to make heroes out of mortals, and it sets a bad precedent for us as we try to elevate values,” Boggess said. “Instead, we elevate people in a way that makes it harder to hold them accountable.”
Before its decision, the council heard an hour of public commentary.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to give our school a name that reflects our Latin and Indigenous school,” said a parent of a third grade from Marshall Elementary School. “It’s a gift.”
Among the San Francisco schools that will have a new name, there is the legendary Lowell High Magnetic School. Its namesake, James Russell Lowell, was an abolitionist but portrayed blacks unfavorably in his writings.
Last week someone posted “racist, anti-Semitic and pornographic images and speech” on the Lowell High School virtual bulletin board. The incident changed the mind of at least one student of Lowell, who had initially questioned the proposed name change.
“Now is the time,” he said at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “This work must be done.”
Other speakers reminded board members of the merits of certain historic figures, such as past presidents.
Some have questioned the name change committee’s research process, with one person pointing out that Wikipedia was cited as the source.
Others questioned the emphasis on names, especially during a pandemic that has left students at home struggling with online learning.
“Do you really think changing the name of an empty building is going to change everything that went on inside?” said Marcia Parrott, former principal of Miraloma Elementary School. “What is your goal? Racial justice? Inequality? How is it going to be when there is no one in these buildings and it won’t be for a while?”
Jeremiah Jeffries, teacher and head of the renaming committee, said each school name has been assessed against criteria developed in the first meetings early last year.
“We are shamelessly pursuing white supremacy, the symbols of white supremacy, and making these changes that people have been asking for for years,” Jeffries said.
The committee presented its findings to the full board in November, a wave back from San Francisco and beyond.
The mayor of London Breed questioned the timing of the decision, particularly when council failed to finalize a plan to get the children back to school before the new names are implemented.
Then-President Trump also spoke, retweeting a Daily Caller article about the recommendation and calling it “crazy!”
In an October letter to the school board, several alumni associations denounced the “anti-historical bias” of the name change committee and the cost of replacing school signs and sweaters.
Deputy Superintendent Myong Leigh estimated on Tuesday that the new signs would cost around $ 10,000 per school.
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