Reply to New Name for JEB Stuart HS

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]If only people who live in the pyramid can vote, how is the NAACP forcing people to change the name? Your quarrel is actually with the Stuart community who voted for change because they were the ones who voted for named other than Stuart on Saturday. Allowing only Stuart community members to vote is what ensures we don't have outsiders dictating what we do. The vast majority of Stuart members who voted on Saturday did not want Stuart. I'm sure you'll claim the voting was rigged, but when I went they matched my address with my drivers license. I'm pretty sure they didn't just single me out. You might be unhappy with the NAACP, but in this case they aren't responsible for Saturday's vote, community members who took the time to exercise their civic duty are. I and many of my neighbors were a part of that group. The people passing out fliers were parents of kid my kids are in school with. I doubt they are all closet NAAP operatives, especially since many of them were white. [/quote]

Once more, (and I am not the PP posting about the NAACP), the first survey of Stuart community supported keeping the name.

Evans and Hynes did not like that result.  So, they formed a committee that was supposed to be made up of Stuart community members.  Instead, they invited people from outside the community--and, even outside of Fairfax County--to be included.

The committee split in half and there were no acceptable results (at least to my mind).  No consensus was reached.  One group demonized the other.

Then, the SB voted to change the name and suggested that "in the spirit of compromise"  and some other words that Stuart be considered.

Stuart received the most votes.

It is clear from the FOIA'd emails that Evans and Hynes were in favor of changing the name from the beginning.  No question of that.  
Staff has indicated that quit a bit of money could be saved if "Stuart" is selected over other names.

Braband should recommend "Stuart" and the SB should approve it.  To do anything else would be hypocritical.

However, in light of the way this SB operates, I suspect that the Board will choose a geographic name.  It will cost Fairfax County taxpayers close to one million dollars and opens the can of worms that we fear.  Millions will be spent on this.  Sad.
The students could use so much more than a name change.  Things that could help them succeed.  This will do nothing.

[/quote]

I don't agree with this characterization.

I'd say the initial surveys were intended to suss out whether there were a significant number of people in the Stuart pyramid who favored the change.  There were, so they explored it further.  The surveys were never intended as an up or down vote on whether the name should be changed, because at the end of the day the School Board is tasked with looking after all students, not just the majority who might favor retaining the status quo.

The working group was always intended to include people in addition to those who currently reside within the Stuart boundaries.  It did, and that became one of the ways in which the Keepers on the working group tried to throw sand in the gears and keep the committee from doing anything.  The Keeper members on the sub-group charged with identifying pros and cons of a name change took forever to share their reasons for keeping the name.  The sub-group charged with assessing the extent of community support and engaging in further outreach stalled because some members claimed that subcommittee had no authority to engage in further outreach, until Steve Lockard expressly confirmed it did.  The sub-group charged with identifying ways to offset the costs of a name change bogged down because the Keepers on that sub-group primarily wanted to argue about whether private funding could cover all the costs.

Even so, the other members of the working group managed to craft persuasive reports, and they - along with the scores of community members who showed up at School Board meetings to testify in favor of a change - ultimately persuaded the School Board to move forward.

To appease one single School Board member, who ultimately abstained from the July 27th vote, language was included in the motion directing the change from "JEB Stuart" that allowed for the possibility that "Stuart HS," without the initials, might be an acceptable "compromise" name.  The results of last week's voting show that most community members who took the time to vote (and one simply can't equate the failure to vote to support for the current name) prefer a name other than "Stuart HS."

I believe that Scott Brabrand wants to resolve this ongoing debate soon, and fully recognizes that the name "Stuart HS" will not unite the community and will only lead to more School Board deliberations (remember that, since the prior vote, Karen Keys-Gammara, who stated unequivocally that she opposes the "Stuart HS" name, was elected to the Board).   He's also smart enough to realize that, the sooner and more decisively FCPS acts, the more quickly opposition to a new name will dissipate.    [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics