George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are no longer suitable names for public schools in San Francisco.
Explorers like Vasco Núñez de Balboa are also out, as is Senator Dianne Feinstein.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Unified School District Education Council voted to change the names of 42 schools because of alleged associations with slave ownership, colonization or oppression.
Those who supported the changes, which affect a third of the district’s schools, said the names should reflect the values of a community.
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 incorporate the characteristics and feel proud of the chosen name,” said the council president, Gabriela López, who voted in favor of the name change. “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 the president who led the Union in the Civil War and ended slavery, Lincoln “is not seen as a hero” by many Native Americans, according to a member of the school board’s nominated committee.
Feinstein, who runs an elementary school named after her, made the list due to controversy decades ago, when she was mayor, involving the renovation of a building that housed Chinese and Filipino tenants, as well as an incident involving a Confederation flag at City Hall.
Through a spokesman, Feinstein, who has represented California in the United States Senate since 1992, declined to comment.
Each school has until April 19 to send suggestions for new names to the nominating committee, which will then offer the final options to the board.
Commissioner Kevine Boggess, the only dissenting vote, said at Tuesday’s meeting that he is opposed to naming schools after people, especially elected officials. He proposed a review of name policies across the district.
“I feel that it is not useful for us to turn mortal people into heroes, and that it sets a bad precedent for us when we try to raise values,” said Boggess. “Instead, we elevate people in ways that make it more difficult to hold them accountable.”
Before its decision, the council heard an hour of public comment.
“We are excited about the opportunity to give our school a name that reflects our Latinx and indigenous school,” said a father of a third grader at Marshall Elementary School. “It’s a gift.”
Among the San Francisco schools to be given a new name is the famous Lowell High magnet school. His namesake, James Russell Lowell, was an abolitionist, but he portrayed blacks in an unfavorable way in his writings.
Last week, someone posted “racist, anti-Semitic and pornographic images and speeches” on the Lowell High School virtual bulletin board. The incident changed the opinion of at least one Lowell student, who initially questioned the nomination proposal.
“Now is really the time,” he said at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “This work needs to be done.”
Other speakers reminded board members of the merits of some historical figures, such as former presidents.
Some questioned the nomination committee’s research process, with one person pointing out that Wikipedia was cited as the source.
Others questioned the focus on names, especially during a pandemic that left students at home struggling with online learning.
“Do you really think that changing the name in an empty building will change everything that was going on inside?” said Marcia Parrott, former head of Miraloma Elementary School. “What is your goal? Racial justice? Inequality? How will this happen when there is no one in these buildings and it will not be for some time?”
Jeremiah Jeffries, a teacher and leader of the name change committee, said that each school name was evaluated against criteria developed during the first meetings early last year.
“We are going after white supremacy, white supremacy symbols, and making these changes that people have been demanding for years,” said Jeffries.
The committee presented its findings to the entire board in November, after a wave of strikes from San Francisco and elsewhere.
Mayor London Breed questioned the timing of the decision, especially when the council did not finalize a plan to bring children back to schools before the new names are implemented.
Then-President Trump also gave his opinion, retweeting a Daily Caller article about the recommendation and calling it “Crazy!”
In an October letter to the school council, several alumni associations condemned the “anti-historic bias” of the renaming committee and the cost of replacing school plaques and T-shirts.
Deputy Superintendent Myong Leigh estimated on Tuesday that the new boards would cost about $ 10,000 per school.