Wilson HS becoming August Wilson HS

[Anonymous]

Not one HS in DC is named after a woman.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else find this quote from the chancellor....awkward? “At DCPS, where a majority of our school leaders and students, and nearly half of our teachers identify as Black, we are committed to fulfilling the efforts of social activism and ensuring that the names we call our schools reflect our values and commitment to diversity.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else find this quote from the chancellor....awkward? “At DCPS, where a majority of our school leaders and students, and nearly half of our teachers identify as Black, we are committed to fulfilling the efforts of social activism and ensuring that the names we call our schools reflect our values and commitment to diversity.”

No???

[Anonymous]

Don’t we have bigger fish to fry? Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else find this quote from the chancellor....awkward? “At DCPS, where a majority of our school leaders and students, and nearly half of our teachers identify as Black, we are committed to fulfilling the efforts of social activism and ensuring that the names we call our schools reflect our values and commitment to diversity.”

+1. It’s a very strange statement. They say they’re committed to diversity, because in their minds they THINK they are. But, then they remind you that the system is majority AA, so they’re going to name the school after a AA person (who seems to have no actual connection to DC). Which is the polar opposite of diversity. The mental gymnastics here are painful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else find this quote from the chancellor....awkward? “At DCPS, where a majority of our school leaders and students, and nearly half of our teachers identify as Black, we are committed to fulfilling the efforts of social activism and ensuring that the names we call our schools reflect our values and commitment to diversity.”

Yes. It is clunky and awkward

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a cop-out designed to make the name change as minimally disruptive as possible. I actually had joked that they'd propose this before they even came out with the list of possible names, only to find the joke was on me when August Wilson was on it.

August Wilson is certainly deserving of having a high school named for him, but the only reason a school in D.C. — where he has no real cultural connections — is choosing the name is because it's the same last name as Woodrow Wilson's.

+1, lazy decision. They should have picked someone with a connection to the city.

You people have no sense of practicality. Let’s move on to trying to actually improve education in DC. Isn’t that the bigger problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is wrong with it? Seems like the best choice. Do you want every item with Wilson on it to be thrown into a land fill? We are in the middle of a climate emergency in case you hadn’t noticed.

+100

We really need to change our thinking as a country around reducing waste. August Wilson is a worthy person with impressive accomplishments, why throw out everything Wilson and then also spend the money are resources creating new materials? Great decision on many fronts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else find this quote from the chancellor....awkward? “At DCPS, where a majority of our school leaders and students, and nearly half of our teachers identify as Black, we are committed to fulfilling the efforts of social activism and ensuring that the names we call our schools reflect our values and commitment to diversity.”

Yes. It is clunky and awkward

They demonstrate they’re commitment to diversity by renaming the school after a member of the majority demographic. I mean, did anyone even proofread this?

[Anonymous]

They did this so they won't have to change the signage.

I seriously doubt that August Wilson received the most votes.

Lazy.

[Anonymous]

So glad there is more debate about the name of schools than whether kids should be allowed to go to school.

[Anonymous]

Super surprised that DC made the practical sane choice but very happy they did. I heard estimates of $1 million to change the name of the school and there is no money allocated. DCPS is asking schools to cut positions. I think no one could justify the cost of a full name change in light of this year’s budget cuts.

[Anonymous]

it is embarrassing how much time people spend debating the names of schools.

just give them all numbers and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it is embarrassing how much time people spend debating the names of schools.

just give them all numbers and move on.

+ 1 (PS1)

[Anonymous]

I have a kid at Wilson and could not care less about the name. I found funny that they had to look for another guy called Wilson instead of changing the name completely. I found the statement semi-dumb and kind of annoying when it says after years of work. I really think there are more important things, like assuring that all kids are well educated and ready to become adults who can go to college and find good jobs. I agree with the poster above, just give numbers and call it a day