https://www.fcps.edu/renaming/communitynames

suggested names

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really feel we should use names that reference the location of the school, no names of people. I've lived in other places that do this and it works fine and makes sense.

I'm surprised one of the choices is not a location themed name.

There are quite a few recommendations for replacement names for JEB Stuart HS. Some are based on locations; most would honor individuals, including these three persons.

Most school systems that have researched the issue have concluded that naming schools after individuals is more inspiring.

FCPS has many high schools named after white men. The Stuart renaming offers an opportunity to honor a woman and/or person of color for the first time.

The problem with naming for people is that you just never know when new information may pop up or opinions may change about the person honored. We already have names like South County South Lakes, Westfield. I think we should continue with names along these lines.

Actually, we do know.

FCPS has 25 high or secondary schools. Of those 25 schools, 14 are named after white men, towns named after white men, or estates owned by white men: Chantilly, Edison, Fairfax, Herndon, JEB Stuart, Lake Braddock, Langley, Lee, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson, and Woodson. The other 11 are not, nor are there any high or secondary schools named after women and/or minorities.

And, after many decades, there has been exactly one high school that the School Board has decided to rename: JEB Stuart. So the frequency is not very high. Claiming that we never know when opinions may change with that track record just means perpetuating a status quo in which white men get recognized, and others do not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry. Two Marshall Highs in one county just does not work.

It could be named "Justice High School," with the understanding that "Justice" refers to Justice Thurgood Marshall.

I like this one!

Anonymous wrote:I'm so happy this is happening! I think it's such a nice thing.

I was shocked to learn that Stuart and Lee were chosen as a way to protest segregation in the schools. I can't believe we never discussed this in American history -- having attended one of these schools in the 1990's. I teach at a title I school that is majority Spanish speaking and think the military gentleman would be a great name.

The bolded is not a fact. In fact, there is no documentation to support this. It was a myth that was put forward by those who wanted to change the name.

Now, the names may have been a poor choice, but those native Virginians who lived here at the time revered their ancestors. It was not spite. Robert E. Lee and Jeb Stuart were much admired. It was not about white supremacy, but Virginia lore. Jeb Stuart had a camp at Munson Hill near where the school is located. It made sense to those at the time. I agree it was a poor choice, but it is wrong to demonize those people who were on the board. Even Mr. Moon said that at the Board meeting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really feel we should use names that reference the location of the school, no names of people. I've lived in other places that do this and it works fine and makes sense.

I'm surprised one of the choices is not a location themed name.

There are quite a few recommendations for replacement names for JEB Stuart HS. Some are based on locations; most would honor individuals, including these three persons.

Most school systems that have researched the issue have concluded that naming schools after individuals is more inspiring.

FCPS has many high schools named after white men. The Stuart renaming offers an opportunity to honor a woman and/or person of color for the first time.

The problem with naming for people is that you just never know when new information may pop up or opinions may change about the person honored. We already have names like South County South Lakes, Westfield. I think we should continue with names along these lines.

Anonymous wrote:Should be called el Salvador

Stuart is majority Hispanic, but the Hispanic-Americans at the school come from many countries. El Salvador is just one of them.

One of the names proposed above, however, would honor a Hispanic-American war hero and educator.

I'm so happy this is happening! I think it's such a nice thing.

I was shocked to learn that Stuart and Lee were chosen as a way to protest segregation in the schools. I can't believe we never discussed this in American history -- having attended one of these schools in the 1990's. I teach at a title I school that is majority Spanish speaking and think the military gentleman would be a great name.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry. Two Marshall Highs in one county just does not work.

It could be named "Justice High School," with the understanding that "Justice" refers to Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Anonymous wrote:I really feel we should use names that reference the location of the school, no names of people. I've lived in other places that do this and it works fine and makes sense.

I'm surprised one of the choices is not a location themed name.

There are quite a few recommendations for replacement names for JEB Stuart HS. Some are based on locations; most would honor individuals, including these three persons.

Most school systems that have researched the issue have concluded that naming schools after individuals is more inspiring.

FCPS has many high schools named after white men. The Stuart renaming offers an opportunity to honor a woman and/or person of color for the first time.

Sorry. Two Marshall Highs in one county just does not work.

I really feel we should use names that reference the location of the school, no names of people. I've lived in other places that do this and it works fine and makes sense.

I'm surprised one of the choices is not a location themed name.

Should be called el Salvador

You can vote for all three (first choice/second choice/third choice), but you have to live within Stuart's attendance area.

Love it! Great options.

Residents of the Stuart community may vote on a new name for JEB Stuart HS on 9/16 from 10-6. Below are three candidates for a new name for Stuart worth considering and aligned with the "One Fairfax" policy adopted by the Board of Supervisors and FCPS.

Barbara Rose Johns

Barbara Rose Johns was just 16 when she used nonviolent civil disobedience to draw attention to her cause to help bring righteous change to America.

After years of frustration with inadequate facilities at her segregated school, she took her concerns to a teacher who responded by asking her to “… do something about it.” She was 16 when she organized a protest against poor conditions at her segregated Virginia school. This led to the first lawsuit against segregation, and became one of five cases that the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka when it declared segregation unconstitutional.

She was a typical, quiet student before she decided something had to be done for the good of her education, and the education of her classmates. Her movement was student-led, nonviolent, and changed the course of history!

She represents the IB student values: She was an Inquirer, a Thinker, a Communicator — Principled, Open-minded, Knowledgeable, Caring, Balanced, Reflective, and a Risk Taker!

Col. Louis G. Mendez

Louis Mendez was of Mexican- and Native-American ancestry. Coming from a poor family, he graduated at the top of his high school class and received an appointment to West Point, one of the very few minority students so honored in that era.

As a leader in the 82nd Airborne, Col. Mendez landed in Normandy in 1944. Leading his soldiers behind enemy lines, he liberated the French village Pretot from Nazi occupation and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for those actions. Mendez earned a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University. After retiring from the Army, he served as the first director of the Right to Read program, the first nation-wide program to address childhood illiteracy in the United States at the early Department of Education. Living in Lake Barcroft for over 40 years, 7 of his kids went to Stuart.

Louis Mendez’s life of service inspires future students at a school as diverse as Stuart to study our Nation’s full history – one that recognizes the contributions of all Americans.

Justice Thurgood Marshall

“Inscribed above the front entrance to the Supreme Court building are the words ‘Equal justice under law.’ Surely no individual did more to make these words a reality than Thurgood Marshall.” — Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist

Thurgood Marshall led the legal team that won the enormously significant Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka lawsuit in 1954, bringing about desegregation of the nation’s public schools. Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

He was appointed by President Kennedy to serve on the United States Court of Appeals. He was appointed as the Solicitor General by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Johnson later nominated him to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, where he served for 24 years as the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.

He lived in the J.E.B. Stuart High School district for 23 years; his widow still lives in the neighborhood.

He left a legacy of upholding the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.