Nicole Raz
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) — A new Loudoun County middle school currently goes by MS-9, but the school board voted earlier this month for the name to be John F. Ryan Middle School. The thing is, John F Ryan was an architect of Virginia’s Jim Crow laws.
“It does seem antithetical to have a school named after an individual that pushed for Jim Crow and discrimination laws,” Loudoun NAACP President Phillip Thompson, adding that it’s especially unsettling that county schools have 45 percent minority students.
Thompson said he approached School Board member Bill Fox (Leesburg) about his findings, and he said he lauds his reaction.
“In our upcoming school board meeting [June 23] I’m actually going to get on the agenda a motion for reconsideration,” Fox told WMAL. “Then I’ll need a majority vote of the board to overturn the previous decision and send this issue back to the naming committee.”
He says he doesn’t anticipate having opposition to the motion to reconsider, but he’d like to see community support.
“I’d rather not leave anything up to chance and so I’d love to hear from the community and their thoughts on the name,” Fox said.
Thompson told WMAL he is organizing quite a turnout, “not just to show our support for the changing of the name, but also to testify before the school board.”
“I’m glad he brought it to my attention before it was really too late,” Fox said.
Copyright 2015 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Loudoun County Public Schools)
