Reply to New Name for JEB Stuart HS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]I still don't know why no one pushed for Peace Valley other than a strong desire to keep pursuing identity politics with school names.

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And, that is the really sad thing about this whole process.

1. Most students could not have cared less who the school was named after.  They just did not want to change the name.
2. Sadly, while changing the name might be the "right" thing to do, it is not going to make a difference in the education of those students.  It may make some of them feel better, but it really won't change things.
3. It has encouraged racism to raise its ugly head and encouraged divisiveness.
4. When we name institutions BECAUSE of their color, it leads to some ridiculous choices.  When Mr. Moon said he'd love to see a school named after an Asian American, that's fine, but it does not mean anything.  It's only a name.
5. Names should always be brainstormed and tested before  presented as the selection:  for example, we already have a Marshall High; Barbara Johns High has some unfortunate connotations; Mendez was a last minute consideration; Justice High is the name of some juvenile facilities; a chain of stores; Just-ICE (which is really too bad considering the demographics of this school).

They spent all that time on deciding whether to change the name and, yet, could not come up with a decent name.

The process was ridiculous.  Way too many suggestions.  Good grief, even the primaries have run-offs when there is not a 50% winner.  But, Marshall should never have been in the mix.
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For whatever reason, it was really important for a lot of people to argue that everyone had been happy at the school for decades and that only discussing a name change led to racism or divisiveness.  I'm not sure why they didn't read the documents submitted by the working group committees or talk to more families.  It was very clear to anyone who made that effort that many people had been unhappy with this Confederate name for a long time.  Not a majority, of course, but do you really make decisions about appropriate educational environments without considering the impact on minority students?

I agree we couldn't have two Marshall HS close to one another, but when you come up with a list of specious reasons to discount various names, such as Johns and Mendez, it really does come across as if you're just looking for an excuse to preserve a status quo that, in too many instances, honors white men who fought for a despicable cause. [/quote]

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