Students from J.E.B. Stuart helped choose the new name of their school.
According to a vote by the Richmond Public School Board, J.E.B. Stuart Elementary will soon become Barack Obama Elementary. The vote in favor of "Obama Elementary" passed 6-1 on June 18. Ninety-five percent of J.E.B. Stuart's student body is African-American.
In the past year, we've seen a lot of conflict over monuments. But monuments aren't the only thing named for Confederate generals: sometimes schools are. J.E.B. Stuart Elementary in Richmond, Virginia, is the only school in the region that's named after a Confederate general.
Courtesy of WRIC
The Richmond Public School Board voted 8-1 earlier this year that the school should be renamed. Because of the student body's cultural makeup, they considered renaming the school after other civil rights heroes, such as Oliver Hill, Barbara Johns, and Henry Marsh. Ultimately, "Barack Obama Elementary" took the cake. The school board published their decision in a release called the Jeb Stuart Renaming Process.
While this is not the first school named after Obama, it's the first school we're aware of that went from being named for the Confederacy to bearing the name of our first black president.
The school says it let students make the final decision.
"To further honor our students’ voices in the process, the Administration asked J.E.B. students to vote for their top three choices (among seven finalists)," the school says of its selection process. "The voting was also an educational opportunity designed to help students learn about the finalists." A student ballot was distributed.
"We also launched a website to allow the community to provide suggestions online," the report says.
“It’s incredibly powerful that in the capital of the Confederacy, where we had a school named for an individual who fought to maintain slavery, that now we’re renaming that school after the first black president,” Superintendent Jason Kamras told the Times-Dispatch. “A lot of our kids, and our kids at J.E.B. Stuart, see themselves in Barack Obama.”
(Courtesy of Richmond Times-Dispatch)
One Richmond School Board member, Kenya Gibson, voted against the name. She said she's proud of the new name, but she wished there was more time to hear from community members. She explained her vote to WRIC TV-8 News, "Really just wanted to make sure we had the time we needed to make that decision reflective of what the community was really feeling."
While many students are happy about the name, some leaders wished they'd chosen the name of a Virginia leader. Carol Wolf, who attended the June 18 meeting, told news outlets, "I am disappointed that we didn't honor a local hero."
Despite their disagreement, both Wolf and Gibson said they are happy that the community is embracing it. The decision faced little pushback from board members. It has also gained considerable support on social media, and even national coverage by the Washington Post.
School Chairwoman Dawn Paige says the students' choice was pivotal in the decision.
“This process really meant a lot to our students, knowing that they had a say-so in the renaming of their school,” Paige says.
Paige says she hopes that Obama Elementary's new name will inspire students to believe that they can do anything, "even be president."
What do you think? Do you agree with the school board's decision? Let us know in the comments.
