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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The public voted for stuart

Most votes were not for Stuart - tells you something when the majority want a new name.

Go take a poll at Lake Braddock and see if 80% of the total votes are for something else.

Actually, the most votes were for Stuart. Please stop lying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This narrative about "far left" people not supporting our military is ridiculous. "Far left" people support our military just as much as anyone else in our country. You're here lecturing about not painting keepers with a broad brush and calling them racist, but are perfectly ok with calling "far left" people anti military. What happened to your lecture about not labeling people?

Oh, please. Some of those people were likely out protesting against soldiers and calling them "baby killers" back in the day.

Are you referring to people who opposed the Vietnam War back in the day i.e. people who protested soldiers/called them "baby killers"? You understand that conflict ended 42 years ago, yes? So anyone who was protesting the war is in their 60s now, at minimum.

Are you trying to say that *every* single member of the "far left" is of retirement age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The public voted for stuart

Most votes were not for Stuart - tells you something when the majority want a new name.

Go take a poll at Lake Braddock and see if 80% of the total votes are for something else.

Actually, the most votes were for Stuart. Please stop lying.

The most votes were for Stuart, but most votes were not for Stuart.

Please learn to read before you embarrass yourself again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This narrative about "far left" people not supporting our military is ridiculous. "Far left" people support our military just as much as anyone else in our country. You're here lecturing about not painting keepers with a broad brush and calling them racist, but are perfectly ok with calling "far left" people anti military. What happened to your lecture about not labeling people?

Oh, please. Some of those people were likely out protesting against soldiers and calling them "baby killers" back in the day.

Are you referring to people who opposed the Vietnam War back in the day i.e. people who protested soldiers/called them "baby killers"? You understand that conflict ended 42 years ago, yes? So anyone who was protesting the war is in their 60s now, at minimum.

Are you trying to say that *every* single member of the "far left" is of retirement age?

DP here. The fact is that the six more conservative members of the School Board were prepared to rename JEB Stuart after a Hispanic-American who was a war hero, an educator, and long-time community resident. None of the more liberal members on the School Board were prepared to join their ranks, even though it would have led to the first school in the county named after a Hispanic-American (at a school that also has a majority Hispanic population).

Going forward, they'll have to explain to their Hispanic constituents why they balked. Saying they couldn't stand to be on the same side of an issue as Elizabeth Schultz certainly isn't going to get them very far. They can say they thought it was more important to honor the broader concept of justice, or three individuals, than a single Hispanic-American, but they will have a very tough time the next time someone proposes to name a school after an African-American. Whether they intended to or not, they've probably ensured all future names will be either concept or place names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This narrative about "far left" people not supporting our military is ridiculous. "Far left" people support our military just as much as anyone else in our country. You're here lecturing about not painting keepers with a broad brush and calling them racist, but are perfectly ok with calling "far left" people anti military. What happened to your lecture about not labeling people?

Oh, please. Some of those people were likely out protesting against soldiers and calling them "baby killers" back in the day.

Are you referring to people who opposed the Vietnam War back in the day i.e. people who protested soldiers/called them "baby killers"? You understand that conflict ended 42 years ago, yes? So anyone who was protesting the war is in their 60s now, at minimum.

Are you trying to say that *every* single member of the "far left" is of retirement age?

The only people whose vote counted were on the School Board. Sure, some of them were too young: McElveen and Palchik---but, believe me, they would have been part of those pointing protesting in the '60's. Strauss likely was one of them and possibly Hynes and Evans were too young to march, but grew up with that mentality. Keys-Gamarra's speech indicates that she was only going to support having an African American in the mix.

[Anonymous]

Too bad Keys Gamarra didn't realize that she was the one who kept the School Board from even considering the black woman, Barbara Rose Johns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too bad Keys Gamarra didn't realize that she was the one who kept the School Board from even considering the black woman, Barbara Rose Johns.

I must have missed something? Could you explain?

[Anonymous]

They decided to ignore the public's input and choose justice high. Sounds like a candidate issue to submit to the attorney general for water fraud and abuse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad Keys Gamarra didn't realize that she was the one who kept the School Board from even considering the black woman, Barbara Rose Johns.

I must have missed something? Could you explain?

Schultz had a motion to name the school "Barbara Rose Johns HS" (after Mendez HS failed). Keys-Gam didn't know how this whole parliamentary procedure thing worked. The rest of the Board patiently explained that she had three options for suggesting "Justice Thurgood Marshall HS". They told her she could amend the motion on the floor at the time (i.e. the Barbara Rose Johns motion), she could make a separate motion after the BRJ motion was finalized, or she could move to amend the initial motion (which was the one for Justice HS -- which, I believe, she seconded when it was initially offered by Evans).

Anyway, Keyes Gamara chose to amend Schultz's motion, thereby removing Barbara Rose Johns HS from consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad Keys Gamarra didn't realize that she was the one who kept the School Board from even considering the black woman, Barbara Rose Johns.

I must have missed something? Could you explain?

Schultz had a motion to name the school "Barbara Rose Johns HS" (after Mendez HS failed). Keys-Gam didn't know how this whole parliamentary procedure thing worked. The rest of the Board patiently explained that she had three options for suggesting "Justice Thurgood Marshall HS". They told her she could amend the motion on the floor at the time (i.e. the Barbara Rose Johns motion), she could make a separate motion after the BRJ motion was finalized, or she could move to amend the initial motion (which was the one for Justice HS -- which, I believe, she seconded when it was initially offered by Evans).

Anyway, Keyes Gamara chose to amend Schultz's motion, thereby removing Barbara Rose Johns HS from consideration.

Schultz only made the motion as a favor to the elderly man who'd been showing up at School Board meetings for years promoting Johns. They both knew it would fail. But thanks to Keys the guy didn't even get to listen to the Board say a few nice things about Johns before voting her down.

By the way, most of the kids dislike "Justice HS" and think it is lame. It's ridiculous that Evans didn't try to field test her last-minute idea before imposing it on the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The public voted for stuart

Most votes were not for Stuart - tells you something when the majority want a new name.

Go take a poll at Lake Braddock and see if 80% of the total votes are for something else.

Actually, the most votes were for Stuart. Please stop lying.

The most votes were for Stuart, but most votes were not for Stuart.

Please learn to read before you embarrass yourself again.

So? The vote wasn't for/against Stuart, it was for a name.

Stuart won the most votes.

Any other conclusion is fanciful thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad Keys Gamarra didn't realize that she was the one who kept the School Board from even considering the black woman, Barbara Rose Johns.

I must have missed something? Could you explain?

Schultz had a motion to name the school "Barbara Rose Johns HS" (after Mendez HS failed). Keys-Gam didn't know how this whole parliamentary procedure thing worked. The rest of the Board patiently explained that she had three options for suggesting "Justice Thurgood Marshall HS". They told her she could amend the motion on the floor at the time (i.e. the Barbara Rose Johns motion), she could make a separate motion after the BRJ motion was finalized, or she could move to amend the initial motion (which was the one for Justice HS -- which, I believe, she seconded when it was initially offered by Evans).

Anyway, Keyes Gamara chose to amend Schultz's motion, thereby removing Barbara Rose Johns HS from consideration.

Gee. I thought she was a lawyer. I did hear her say that she hadn't been able to finish her SB orientation yet. Does that include a primer on Roberts' Rules?

I admit that parliamentary procedures are very difficult for me to understand--but, I am not a lawyer. She should surely have served in organizations that follow parliamentary procedure.

Of course, since everything the SB does is scripted ahead of time, I can understand why deviating from the script is confusing.

[Anonymous]

This whole thing was backwards.
They should have taken suggestions from the community and then the SB should have vetted them. They should have removed the nonsense suggestions and then gone to the community with five options.

Because there was already a Marshall High School, Thurgood Marshall should never have been an option.

Then, they should have had a secret ballot in the school--just the students--to choose the name. But, all names would need to have been acceptable to the SB.

This whole process was a "we know better than you" and it failed. To have a vote on a day when kids were out doing other things was not a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that naming a school for Johns or Marshall(except for the George C. Marshall issue) would have been fine EXCEPT it would appear at sticking a finger in the eye of the "keepers". And, that is what we needed to avoid in this case. I think that the SB members were subtly trying to do that with "Justice"--but, I think Mendez would have been a great choice. The "changers" really wanted an African American--that is clear, or the SB would have voted overwhelmingly for Mendez. His story was truly inspirational and that, coupled with the connection to Stuart, would have been a great selection.

However, that would not have satisfied Evans, Hynes, Keys-Gamarra, et.al. who were determined to have a civil rights connection.

Justice is the closest they could get to their wish. Nobody wins. Everyone loses. Who really likes the name?

FCPS has been naming schools after persons of color. There is no high school--but no high school has been named after a person in a very, very long time. I'm guessing that Robinson was the last time.

They should have gone with Peace Valley High. Mendez got less votes than that so there really wasn't enough community support for Mendez. His family were the ones pushing hard, canvassing the community with flyers, not the community as a whole. I think naming it Mendez would have been playing identity politics too. How about just picking Peace Valley High and moving on.

[Anonymous]

Every school named after a white man or woman was identity politics. Peace Valley is a boring subdivision name. At least the concept of Justice means something.