Abraham Lincoln, out. George Washington, gone. San Francisco votes to rename 44 schools for namesakes' ties to racism, slavery.
Abraham Lincoln. Dianne Feinstein. George Washington. Paul Revere.
These names are among ones that must be removed from public schools because of their ties to slavery, oppression, or racism, San Francisco school board officials decided by a 6-1 vote on Tuesday night.
More than a third of the district’s 125 schools made the list of objectionable names, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Schools will have until April to offer new names, which will then be voted on by board members.
The new namesakes must adhere to a set of guidelines, including that individuals proposed must not have been slave owners or abetted in slavery or genocide, violated human rights violations, or be "known racists and/or white supremacists."
Feinstein, a U.S. senator from California since 1992, was added to the list because she replaced a vandalized Confederate flag as the city's mayor.
'Designed to denigrate, exclude and oppress': More than 240 US schools are named after Confederate leaders and about half serve majority non-white students
Critics had argued that the process was rushed, citing little to no input from historians and a lack of information on the basis for each recommendation. And even before the board's decision, there was opposition of the renaming effort, both within San Francisco and at the national level.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed in December called it "offensive" for SFUSD to be focused on renaming schools in the midst of a global health pandemic.
On Wednesday, Breed said in a statement: "This is an important conversation to have, and one that we should involve our communities, our families, and our students. What I cannot understand is why the School Board is advancing a plan to have all these schools renamed by April, when there isn’t a plan to have our kids back in the classroom by then."
School board members argued that the district is capable of pursuing multiple priorities at the same time, and that the push for renaming schools is timely and important given the country’s racial reckoning.
“It’s a message to our families, our students and our community,” school board member Mark Sanchez said during the meeting. “It’s not just symbolic. It’s a moral message.”
Fact check: Fact check: Why Abraham Lincoln High School is on San Francisco's renaming list
Some families have argued for school name changes for years, including those at James Denman Middle School, named for the first district superintendent, who denied Chinese students a public education.
Others have argued students are wearing school sweatshirts labeled with the names of slave owners, including Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
More than 240 schools in 17 states are named after Confederate leaders, according to a September report from the Equal Justice Initiative. About half of those schools have student populations that are predominantly Black or nonwhite. Most of the schools are concentrated in Southern states, including Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
Since 2014, more than 30 schools in the country have been renamed to remove Confederate references. There's been an uptick of removals, including in Montgomery, Alabama, and Fairfax, Virginia, fueled by widespread protests against systemic racism and police brutality, with more people linking Confederate monuments with white supremacy.
Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: San Francisco to rename 44 schools because of ties to racism, slavery
