In San Francisco, Virus is Contained but Schools Are Still Closed

[David Lockmiller]

(11-02-2020 08:14 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Don't worry David.

“S.F. might change 44 school names, renouncing Washington, Lincoln and even Dianne Feinstein” – San Francisco Chronicle story headline, by Jill Tucker, Oct. 15, 2020.

San Francisco School Board President Mark Sanchez said he didn’t anticipate that the board would change the name of all 44 schools, but those on the list “should be prepared.”

The panel includes 12 community members appointed by the superintendent and approved by the school board, as well as district staff members and board President Mark Sanchez. It was formed in January and has since met 10 times, with members doing their own research, looking at newspaper articles, among other resources to identify whether the name on a school met the criteria for renaming, which includes anyone or anything associated with slavery, genocide, colonization, exploitation and oppression, among other factors.

Abraham Lincoln High is also on the list, based on the former president’s treatment of American Indian and native peoples. [This was a recent topic of discussion on the Lincoln Discussion Symposium in the RE: Abraham Lincoln statues thread and "Dakota 38," in particular.]

More than a third of the district’s 125 schools made the list of objectionable names . . . .

“Principals are devoting resources to this,” said parent Jonathan Alloy, whose children attend Commodore Sloat, one of the schools on the list. “We’re being presented with it as a fait accompli.”

The school board will have to vote on any recommended name changes, likely in late January or early February. But in the meantime, each school on the list is expected to come up with alternative names by Dec. 18.

The move . . . arrives in the wake of another controversial move by the district to address the country’s painful past: covering a mural depicting slavery and Native American mistreatment. Some of the alumni involved in the mural fight are gearing up for another battle over the renaming.