New Name for JEB Stuart HS - 9/16 Community Vote

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love it! Great options.

Horrible choices! Get rid of the "honorific" naming! Johns High School? Marshall? -- we already have a Marshall. Why aren't they picking names that are neutral/positive. Let the students/teachers/community create meaning from a neutral name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love it! Great options.

Horrible choices! Get rid of the "honorific" naming! Johns High School? Marshall? -- we already have a Marshall. Why aren't they picking names that are neutral/positive. Let the students/teachers/community create meaning from a neutral name.

I think these are three good choices. Reasonable people disagree. Since we live in a different pyramid, we won't be voting, but I think any of the three listed choices would be good choices to rename Stuart.

[Anonymous]

While Mr. Mendez sounds like a wonderful person -- naming the school "Mendez High" is only going to suggest that this is a school for Latino students... which in this area, at this time, means less affluent, more language learners. Sorry, but this isn't the kind of message that gets high achieving families excited about buying into a school zone.

These are not good choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While Mr. Mendez sounds like a wonderful person -- naming the school "Mendez High" is only going to suggest that this is a school for Latino students... which in this area, at this time, means less affluent, more language learners. Sorry, but this isn't the kind of message that gets high achieving families excited about buying into a school zone.

These are not good choices.

Justice HS sounds a bit ... punitive. Rose Johns HS is a good name for a high school, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While Mr. Mendez sounds like a wonderful person -- naming the school "Mendez High" is only going to suggest that this is a school for Latino students... which in this area, at this time, means less affluent, more language learners. Sorry, but this isn't the kind of message that gets high achieving families excited about buying into a school zone.

These are not good choices.

I would vote for Peace Valley or Munson Hill.

Those sound like affluent schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love it! Great options.

Horrible choices! Get rid of the "honorific" naming! Johns High School? Marshall? -- we already have a Marshall. Why aren't they picking names that are neutral/positive. Let the students/teachers/community create meaning from a neutral name.

All of these names are positive and would recognize distinguished Virginians, two of whom each lived many decades in the Stuart community, and the third of whom played a pivotal role in school desegregation.

Personally, I'd rather replace "JEB Stuart" with the name of an individual who inspires than a generic place name, even if the latter is the path of least resistance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really feel we should use names that reference the location of the school, no names of people. I've lived in other places that do this and it works fine and makes sense.

I'm surprised one of the choices is not a location themed name.

There are quite a few recommendations for replacement names for JEB Stuart HS. Some are based on locations; most would honor individuals, including these three persons.

Most school systems that have researched the issue have concluded that naming schools after individuals is more inspiring.

FCPS has many high schools named after white men. The Stuart renaming offers an opportunity to honor a woman and/or person of color for the first time.

The problem with naming for people is that you just never know when new information may pop up or opinions may change about the person honored. We already have names like South County South Lakes, Westfield. I think we should continue with names along these lines.

Actually, we do know.

FCPS has 25 high or secondary schools. Of those 25 schools, 14 are named after white men, towns named after white men, or estates owned by white men: Chantilly, Edison, Fairfax, Herndon, JEB Stuart, Lake Braddock, Langley, Lee, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson, and Woodson. The other 11 are not, nor are there any high or secondary schools named after women and/or minorities.

And, after many decades, there has been exactly one high school that the School Board has decided to rename: JEB Stuart. So the frequency is not very high. Claiming that we never know when opinions may change with that track record just means perpetuating a status quo in which white men get recognized, and others do not.

Sorry, I wasn't referring specifically to Fairfax County. I've lived in a lot of other places all over the country and I've seen situations where names needed to be changed for other reasons, when information surfaced after a person's death.

Location names tend to not be controversial. Also, "idea" names tend to work well. Freedom, Liberty, Discovery, and Justice, as someone above suggested, tend to be names that work well.

I've lived in a couple of school districts that only allow place names for new schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While Mr. Mendez sounds like a wonderful person -- naming the school "Mendez High" is only going to suggest that this is a school for Latino students... which in this area, at this time, means less affluent, more language learners. Sorry, but this isn't the kind of message that gets high achieving families excited about buying into a school zone.

These are not good choices.

That's patently absurd. Affluent, high-achieving families would infer the school system is at least modestly progressive and embrace the name and school - certainly far more so than a school named after a Confederate soldier.

You might want to look at the demographics at Rosa Parks Middle School in Montgomery County: 62% white, 12% Hispanic, 10% Asian, and 12% Black. According to your logic, the school would be almost all Black.

[Anonymous]

are these actually the name contenders or just the ones OP thinks are the ones "worth considering"?

[Anonymous]

There were lots of hard feelings in the community over this name change.
It would be best to go with a geographic name.

[Anonymous]

SLeepy Hollow HS
Seven Corners HS
Vista HS
Juniper HS
Crosswoods HS
Hillsborough HS
Peace Valley HS
Valley HS

So many good options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really feel we should use names that reference the location of the school, no names of people. I've lived in other places that do this and it works fine and makes sense.

I'm surprised one of the choices is not a location themed name.

There are quite a few recommendations for replacement names for JEB Stuart HS. Some are based on locations; most would honor individuals, including these three persons.

Most school systems that have researched the issue have concluded that naming schools after individuals is more inspiring.

FCPS has many high schools named after white men. The Stuart renaming offers an opportunity to honor a woman and/or person of color for the first time.

The problem with naming for people is that you just never know when new information may pop up or opinions may change about the person honored. We already have names like South County South Lakes, Westfield. I think we should continue with names along these lines.

Actually, we do know.

FCPS has 25 high or secondary schools. Of those 25 schools, 14 are named after white men, towns named after white men, or estates owned by white men: Chantilly, Edison, Fairfax, Herndon, JEB Stuart, Lake Braddock, Langley, Lee, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson, and Woodson. The other 11 are not, nor are there any high or secondary schools named after women and/or minorities.

And, after many decades, there has been exactly one high school that the School Board has decided to rename: JEB Stuart. So the frequency is not very high. Claiming that we never know when opinions may change with that track record just means perpetuating a status quo in which white men get recognized, and others do not.

Sorry, I wasn't referring specifically to Fairfax County. I've lived in a lot of other places all over the country and I've seen situations where names needed to be changed for other reasons, when information surfaced after a person's death.

Location names tend to not be controversial. Also, "idea" names tend to work well. Freedom, Liberty, Discovery, and Justice, as someone above suggested, tend to be names that work well.

I've lived in a couple of school districts that only allow place names for new schools.

Loudoun has a few high schools with generic names like Freedom, Dominion, and so on, and people have a hard time keeping them straight. That may be why they went with John Champe, a war hero, for one of their newer schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SLeepy Hollow HS
Seven Corners HS
Vista HS
Juniper HS
Crosswoods HS
Hillsborough HS
Peace Valley HS
Valley HS

So many good options.

Actually, most of those names are not on the ballot for 9/16, except for Seven Corners and Peace Valley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were lots of hard feelings in the community over this name change.
It would be best to go with a geographic name.

There were lots of hard feelings in the community over this name change. It would be best to go with an inspirational name, such as one of the three in the OP.

[Anonymous]

Something Hispanic