Should we rename Ballou High School after Nelson Mandela?

[Anonymous]

Nelson Mandela High School formerly known as Ballou

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Why?

[Anonymous]

I don't get why we would change it.

[Anonymous]

The school is not worthy of the name.

[Anonymous]

Names do not guarantee any impact on achievement. Look in DC at Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Ron Brown, Malcolm X, Dorothy Height (formerly), Cesar Chavez (mixed results). It's not worth the cost to change the letterhead and school signs unless you have very generous sponsors outside of DCPS to pay for it. Why not just name the school library after him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school is not worthy of the name.

+1000

[Anonymous]

The man was not American.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, the school was named for Dr. Frank Washington Ballou, superintendent of the DC public schools from 1920 to 1943.

[Anonymous]

you'd really want to name a completely segregated high school after mandela??/ what a joke

[Anonymous]

Don't disrespect the name of Nelson Mandela that way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The man was not American.

So what?

[Anonymous]

LEt's rename Wilson instead.

[Anonymous]

I propose rechristening Ballou as George W. Bush to serve as an everlasting monument to NCLB and school reform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you'd really want to name a completely segregated high school after mandela??/ what a joke

Segregation does not exist today by law. Yes, there are schools that are all black today by virtue of demographics alone and red lining was outlawed long ago. Plus, DC has tons of school choices, much more so than other cities.