Parents push to rename Clay Elementary but reject new name – The San Diego Union-Tribune

For more than a year, parents at Henry Clay Elementary in Rolando have been asking San Diego Unified to rename their children s school.

They don t want their school named after Henry Clay, the U.S. statesman during the decades leading up to the Civil War who owned at least 122 enslaved people and spearheaded controversial legislation that preserved slavery in the South in an effort to stave off civil war.

There s an obvious understanding that this is someone whom the school should not be proud of. But his name is there, said Jerrod Tucker, a Clay Elementary parent who has helped lead a renaming effort that involves parents, school staff and community members.

Parents also hope to rename the city-owned Clay Neighborhood Park, next door to the school.

The effort is one of several around the district that parents, students and community members have launched in recent years to remove the names of historic figures now widely understood to have perpetuated racism in the U.S. In 2021 the district renamed Serra High to Canyon Hills High and renamed Lindbergh/Schweitzer Elementary to Clairemont Canyons Academy.

San Diego Unified officials agreed to rename Clay Elementary. An anonymous district committee met behind closed doors and came up with a new name they recommended to the school board: Rolling Hills Leadership Elementary, to reflect the topography of the neighborhood.

But the parents who initiated the renaming effort have concerns about transparency, and about how the name was ultimately chosen by an anonymous district committee that met behind closed doors.

via www.sandiegouniontribune.com

Can Yale and Harvard be far behind? Ezra Cornell was a pretty righteous dude as I recall, but I bet he held some White opinions. Who is Dartmouth? Probably no one good. Chicago is an American Indian name, so maybe it’s ok. Stanford was a legit corrupt crony RR magnate and it wouldn’t bother me if the whole place were bulldozed and the land sewn with salt, but I’m a Golden Bears fan so I’m biased. But rename it, sure. Is Berkeley named after the famous philosopher and Anglican priest? If so, isn’t he about as harmless as you can get? Wandering the English seaside, thinking his pious, idealist thoughts? Perhaps we should set up an anonymous committee. Well funded, of course.