San Diego Unified to consider renaming Henry Clay Elementary school

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The San Diego Unified school board members will be voting on Tuesday to approve a proposed renaming of Henry Clay Elementary School to honor the first Black woman to serve as the district’s Superintendent, Dr. Bertha Pendleton.

The renaming of the Mid-City school has been in the works for the last two years after students, parents and teachers requested the district explore the idea, according to board documents.

A first reading by the SDUSD board was held two weeks ago, on April 16. Although at the time, the board’s School Names Committee recommendation was to rename the campus, “Rolling Hills Leadership Elementary School.”

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However, parents, students and school staff expressed concern about this new name proposed by the committee, instead asking the board to consider other alternatives explored when the renaming was first discussed.

These options included recognizing pioneering authors like bell hooks or James Baldwin, the district’s first Black female Dr. Pendleton, the first Hispanic woman to go to space Ellen Ochoa, or Indigenous activist Autumn Peltier.

Charlotte Dupuy — the enslaved woman who mounted a freedom suit against Clay, her enslaver, while he was U.S. Secretary of State — was also discussed as a choice for the school’s new name. These options have since been narrowed to Pendleton by the district board.

According to the district, Pendleton grew up in Alabama during segregation, when Black Americans were barred from the resources “to be successful and live full lives as citizens” that were enjoyed by her white neighbors.

Despite this, she found ways to learn on her own, which included getting permission to use the public library after hours to access their extensive reference materials. This ingenuity helped her become valedictorian of her high school graduating class.

She went on to graduate with honors from Knoxville College in Tennessee, before going on to earn a Master’s from United States International University and her Doctorate of Education from University of San Diego.

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Pendleton spent her early career as a cartographic engineer before becoming a teacher. She was later fill administrative roles, working her way up to become the first Black American selected as the SDUSD’s Superintendent.

Outside the classroom, she served two terms as president of Epsilon Xi Omega, the local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is also related to the late civil rights leader, U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

The board will vote on the proposed name change at its regularly scheduled meeting at 5 p.m.

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