Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – A long-standing debate over what to re-name J.E.B. Stuart High School will end tonight with a vote by the school board.
School board member Sandy Evans has filed a motion to name the school Justice High School. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s name was among five recommendations made by the superintendent. Even though Evans said she likes that name, it won’t work because the school system already has a Marshall High School named after statesmen and soldier George C. Marshall.
The superintendent’s list of finalists also included civil rights activist Barbara Rose Johns and long-time Fairfax County resident U.S. Army Col. Louis G. Mendez Jr. who parachuted into Normandy during World War II.
“All three of these individuals fought for equality, fought for justice, inclusion, diversity, tolerance, and so under the name Justice High School we could honor all three of these individuals as well as a very American concept,” Evans said.
While some board members, including Karen Keyes-Gamarra, said at a meeting last week they also liked the name Justice High School, board member Elizabeth Schultz doesn’t think that name will get enough votes.
“I don’t think that a concept name, a word out of the dictionary that isn’t associated to anybody or anything, or wasn’t even something the community voted on, I don’t think that will ever work,” Schultz said.
In a non-binding community survey, parents and students voted to take J.E.B. out of the title but leave the name Stuart. School board member Elizabeth Schultz said she will introduce a motion that would re-name the school Stuart High School because that is what the community wants. Since she doesn’t think there will be enough votes for Stuart, she also plans to propose naming the school after Mendez. She said Mendez, a devoted family man who served as Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, is a good role model of what it looks like to achieve professional and personal success.
“There are no good answers here. There aren’t any, so I’m trying to find the least bad one, and this is a pretty noble story that I think could unite a community after this long long weary process,” Schultz said.
The plan is for the school to have its new name in time for the 2019 to 2020 school year, but Evans said she that could change if more or less time is needed.
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