Community members charged with voting for a new name for JEB Stuart High School select ‘Stuart’
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| The scene outside Stuart High School as people showed up to vote for a new name. |
The option for retaining the Stuart name for JEB Stuart High School got the most points in a voting exercise conducted by Fairfax County Public Schools Sept. 16.
“Stuart/Stuart Raiders” got a total of 917 points, while Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice, or a variant got 783 points and Barbara Rose Johns got 737 points, FCPS announced.
Stuart students, parents, and community members had an opportunity to vote for any of the 74 names presented at a community meeting Sept. 9. Only people who reside in the Stuart attendance area were allowed to vote, with one vote per household.
People could select a first, second, and third choice. First choice votes were worth 3 points, second choice 2 points, and third choice 1 point.
Below the top three vote getters, other popular names were Peace Valley with 494 points, Louis G. Mendez Jr. with 328 points, Munson Hill with 227, and Barcroft/Lake Barcroft with 205.
The school board passed a resolution in July to initiate the name change process following requests from students and alumni unhappy about having a school named for a Confederate general. As a compromise to appease those who wanted to keep the Stuart name, the board resolution called for Stuart High School to be considered as a new name.
When the school board initiated the name change process, it directed FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand to submit a recommendation to the school board on Sept. 28 consisting of one or more of the most popular choices selected by the community. That recommendation will be announced to the public on Sept. 21.
The school board will consider the superintendent’s recommendation at its work session on Oct. 16 and will vote on Oct. 26.
Turnout appeared to be high during the voting, with a steady stream of people dropping by the school all day. Advocates for Marshall, Johns, and Mendez set up display tables with handouts about their preferred choice.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, who lived in Lake Barcroft, argued the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education, before the Supreme Court and later served as a Supreme Court justice.
Barbara Rose Johns was an advocate for school integration in Virginia, and her lawsuit was eventually incorporated into the Brown ruling. Several people who voted for her noted that Fairfax County doesn’t have any high schools named for a woman or person of color.
Lisa McQuail, a Stuart alum who posted the first online petition, in June 2015, urging the school board to drop the Stuart name, was at Stuart urging people to select Johns, Marshall, and Mendez. All three are Virginians and all “embody the really complex American values we can all agree on,” she said.
Mendez was a World War II hero who became an education official. His daughter, Tina Mendez was at Stuart on Saturday, as was Jasmine Sheriff, who currently lives in the Lake Barcroft house that the Mendez family lived in on Stonybrae Lane from 1954 to 2012. “I still have an emotional connection to that house,” said Tina, who attended Stuart with six of her 11 siblings.
Several people were at the school promoting Andy Anderson, of the Stuart class of 2001, who served in the Army and was killed in Iraq. “It would be such an honor to have the school named for him,” said Andy’s mother, Xiomara Anderson, who noted that her son played on the Stuart football and basketball teams. Anderson got 164 points.
“Schooly McSchoolface” got 44 points, beating such historical figures as Alexander Hamilton, John F. Kennedy, John Glenn, Ronald Reagan, and Walt Disney. The complete list of names and vote totals are listed here.
81 responses to “Community members charged with voting for a new name for JEB Stuart High School select ‘Stuart’”
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There was 73 choices and very diluted. 87% of the community favored a name other than just "Stuart"
Do you know the total number of votes cast?
This was not a normal election – it is more of a glorified survey with in boundary verification
930 house households voted. Each house gets to vote 3 choices. 1st choice gets 3 pts, 2nd, 2 points, 3rd 1 point
The final result was 5178 points case.
Every things is one fcps website
https://www.fcps.edu/renaming
There were 932 unique households participating in this vote/survey/event.
339/932 = 36.4% for Marshall, etc.
336/932 = 36.1% for Stuart
332/932 – 35.6% for Johns
How can you call this anything but a dead heat in raw vote?
The system used for voting was a weighted vote system. By design, this type of system seeks to establish a pluralistic solution rather than majority rules. Those are the rules the FCSB set up. Using this system:
917/5,178 points = 17.7% Stuart
763/5,178 points = 14.7% Marshall et al
737/5,178 points = 14.2% Johns
You cannot simply add points for Marshall and points for Johns. Pluralistic voting does not allow combining choices AFTER the vote because 1) people may behave differently if they had only one choice, and 2) you cannot clearly track how many unique voters you have between choices. For example, did all 332 people who voted first place for Johns also vote second place for Marshall? If so, they already have the value of their weighted votes counted into the totals. By combining these categories, you are doubling the value of their votes relative to other people who participated in the process.
The reg specifically states no combining results after the vote. Presumably the school board members (or reg drafters) understood how this system actually works?
Wow. Spent over $1M to find out (again) that the community rejects the name change. Thank god my property taxes went up this year so I can fund part of this great use of money. By the way where was the criticism of this "special election" cost just like the last one? Are we gonna now here that this is a vote for white supremacy?
extra money will go to protecting "headless JEB" school from Neo-Nazi parading around Munson Hill with Tiki Torches.
There is no extra money. There is no money for this in the first place. Parents should have been given the choice spend close to a million dollars on a name change or on educating your children. Hmm I wonder which they would have chosen.
The Sept. 16 vote didn't cost $1 million.
The name change will cost a million. A million tax payer dollars. If this is how our tax dollars are going to be spent attention Fairfax County tax payers vote NO on any and all future school bond referendums they obviously don't need any extra.
Ellie — Perhaps you can give us an accurate breakdown of just how many tax dollars have actually been spent on this name changing effort? I am particularly interested to know if another post on your blog is accurate — FCPS employees have been donating their time to this cause. Is that accurate? How many volunteer hours and what is their value?
I prefer the name: "This School Name Change Cost X Amount of Dollars"….Kind of rolls off the tongue.
The title of your post is misleading. In a field of 73 nominations, Stuart got the most votes, but over 70% of voters voted for a name different than Stuart. That's the message Scott Brabrand and the School Board need to respect when deciding on the new name to replace J.E.B. Stuart.
The title isn't misleading at all
So we should throw out the results because you didn't like the outcome? In a vote of the top 2 names, I expect that Stuart would win because many don't want a name change in the first place, and that maintains a certain level of consistency with the history of the school. Regardless of the vote, the School Board will do what they determined long before the vote, the committee meetings and the public meetings.
If you want to play those games that "most people voted for something else," then the following votes also reflect some sort of name continuity, suggesting more support for the "stuart" name, pushing the total to over 1,000:
Gilbert Stuart
Jeff Stuart
Stuart-Thomas
Also since "JEB" wasn't on the ballot, you can easily count some of the more ridiculous ones as support for continuity. Those claiming that more voted for something other than "stuart" are the same whiners who started this non-issue in the first place. Keep crying racism when you're real problem is lack of respect for democratic processes and institutions when you don't get your way. I know, but treason, "hate," etc. Feel free to take out your anger on inanimate statues while there are still some left.
We should buy some Gilbert Stuart portraits for the school. We should have some from all the possible Stuarts it could be.
So in your logic Beyonce is associated with JEB Stuart? That was ridiculous. And of course Harambe!
All of the FCPS staff volunteered their time to run what I would call a survey. The only people paid were FCPS security. The costs were far less to run this than a county-wide election. 8700 eligible votes. About 4 voting precincts of people. This survey has accountability unlike the survey monkeys that were used before.
Do you have a source for the information on FCPS Staff volunteering their time that you are able to share?
"Do you have a source for the information on FCPS Staff volunteering their time that you are able to share?"
I asked the staff who worked at all the ad hoc committee meetings and public meetings if they were being paid overtime and they said no. They are salaried employees.
"When the school board initiated the name change process, it directed FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand to submit a recommendation to the school board on Sept. 28 consisting of one or more of the most popular choices selected by the community."
This means that the name will not be Stuart because they will do what they really want. WHAT A JOKE!!!!
VOTE SANDY EVANS OUT!!!!
No to headless Stuart. waste of money.
I emailed Sandy Evans already, but she apparently doesn't respond well to criticism.
Like "Schooly McSchoolface","Triggered Snowflake," and other inappropriate options, naming the school "Stuart" should be dismissed by the school board. Board members have already determined the compelling need for change and "Stuart" is not a change.
Looking at the votes rather than "points," Justice Marshall received more votes than Stuart. Combined, Justice Marshall and Barbara Rose Johns beat out Stuart by about two to one.
Justice Marshall, 339
Stuart, 336
Barbara Rose Johns, 332
Sorry but much like your probable disdain for the Electoral College, this was the system that was set up and agreed to. Your preferred choices each lost to "Stuart," in spite of a massive campaign against the name. Nothing can change the fact that this vote proved the community prefers "Stuart" and changing it goes against the will of the people.
Ms. Fay (yes, I am assuming your gender) the weighted voted system implemented by the Board is what counts. Do you think Marshall or Johns would have won if households had only been able to select one name? Every single vote by the residents of the Stuart pyramid that have been taken on this issue have favored keeping the name and this one is no different.
And far from being inappropriate I think 'Triggered Snowflake' is remarkably apt at the moment.
FCSB deemed the name "Stuart High School" to be different from "J.E.B. Stuart High School" Therefore, this name was included on the ballot and many people voiced their vote using this option.
The school officially was named J.E.B. High School in 1958 and the periods after each letter were confirmed in a separate FCSB vote about a month later.
Several individuals submitted a name change of "JEB Stuart" to replace "J.E.B. Stuart" but this option was not allowed on the ballot.
If the current FCSB does not deem the name "Stuart" distinct from "J.E.B. Stuart" then they should not have allowed it on the ballot. Allowing it to be on the ballot if it is a ""same name" discredits every vote cast that day, because people would have voted for a different option … who knows what they would have done?
Indeed, that is the problem. They also allowed Schooly McSchoolface and Triggered Snowflake, which I assume we can all agree are not appropriate. So a name making the ballot does not mean it is an appropriate choice for our school.
The naming process that they have is really meant for new schools not for a politicized issue. Not sure they should develop a new one. But first thing I would change is the index card submission, make it a form – maybe a google form. Each person has to put in name, phone, email, small justification – so they are accountable. And they can call and ask for justification for the name.
Does anyone really believe that "Stuart HS" which appears on all the mail I receive from the school, which is the name of the parents list serve "StuartParents", which is listed on the FCPS website and on countless county lists and maps, is not the same as the "Stuart" HS that was on the ballot and that garnered only 18% of the total weighted votes cast?
It is actually surprising that 'Stuart' didn't get more votes than it did, since it is essentially the incumbent candidate, and has all the name recognition that comes along with being an incumbent, as well as being named on the school board resolution. Additionally, the 'keepers' have lobbied very hard for it — the ironically-titled 'StuartFacts' website that was created in the summer of 2016, "Know JEB" t-shirts, lobbying anonymously on community list serves, ad hominem attacks against neighbors and school board members and name nominees, public testimonies at school board meetings, inviting Civil War re-enactors to SB meetings, named sponsorship of the Raider Run, participation in the ad hoc committee as well as participation in multiple subcommittees, ad hominem attacks against fellow subcommittee members, inviting TV reporters into private homes for personal interviews, one on one meetings with School Board representatives, etc.
It's kind of embarrassing that the name didn't get 100% of the vote if the claims are true. If the community likes the name so much, why did so many community members line up to speak and nominate the other 72 names on September 9? Why did they come out in droves to vote on September 16? 932 households voted. That's more household votes that Grisafe could get individuals to support him in the special election.
Chill out and embrace the vote. Stuart wins!
J.E.B Stuart wins in a landslide! Get over it, it never was about racism, or anything but a great Virginian.
The community vote is actually a referendum for change. In a field of 73 candidates, 17% of the total votes were in favor of retaining the school's name, Stuart HS, that honors a Confederate General, and an incredible 83% of the votes support change. The top three most popular names also indicate 2:1 support for a school named after a civil rights leader, not a school named for a Confederate General.
Aww….you're making sense….that ruins all the FUN!
*pout*
Where are you all getting the numbers for total votes cast? I can't find them anywhere
You take data and put it into a sheet. the 1st column in spreadsheet – total points for 1st choice 2790. Since it was worth 3 points – divide by 3. You get 930. All of the Keepers voted in a block for "Stuart", in the 1st choice only. In an attempt to game the system. When their leadership called the faithful responded, in a very Tammany Hall like way. So, that is how you validate the county's assertion that 930 voters came.
930 households voted. 768 households selected all 3 choices. Maybe 42 only selected 2 choices.
Continuing this logic, which I agree with …
930 = first place
810 = second place
768 = third place
I do not know if the voting software allowed people to skip a place — 950 unique voters but only 930 placed first place votes … for some reason they skipped over to a second or third place vote. My head pounds, so I will assume that if a person cast only one vote it was for first place. That would make 930 unique voters. Someone with hardcore other data can correct.
The renaming reg specifically states that once a vote has occurred you cannot combine results. If you combine results at this point, you may be double-counting voters or failing to respect the options that shaped each voter's individual's decisions, among other things.
100/73 = 1.37% if each option received a proportionate share. Stuart received 17% (I am trusting your math). How did the other options fare in such an open field? What if the FCSB had taken the time for true public engagement to narrow down the options?
Calling this a "vote" is a misnomer. With 3 selections and ranking it is more of a survey, than what we are used to in a general election.
FYI – the reg actually say the 1st has to be submitted. Later it says.
"After review of the community’s recommendations derived from the process used at the community meeting, the Division Superintendent will formulate a recommendation consisting of one or more of the most popular choices according to community input. The Division Superintendent shall then transmit the recommendation to the School Board for consideration and action.
Of course Stuart was going to win, it's basically a vote for keeping the name and the vote for changing it is split 85 ways or so. When you add up the numbers, keeping the Stuart name was voted out by an overwhelming number of people. To be clear, I myself opposed the name change because I think it money ill spent that could better go to education, but since this is happening and money will be spent anyway, the board should go with a name that is truly fitting. Justice Thurgood Marshall would be the opposite of J.E.B. Stuart — Justice Marshall not only argued Brown v Board of Education at the Supreme Court, he was an advocate for civil rights and revered in all circles. Truly a great man. And he lived here! What better way to honor this legal giant who stood for what is right (and to end the discord that the name Stuart seems to call out in people) than to name the school after him?
And Thurgood Marshall elected not to send his own kids to Stuart but to private school. Let them name that school after him.
What a total sham! The community never supported a name change. Deal with it.
TO: Anonymous9/17/17, 10:49 PM
The community vote wasn't a referendum for change. All names on the list were new. No one was allowed to vote for J.E.B. Stuart. No one had the choice to keep the name as is.
If you recall, May 2016 the comunity definitively said NO to a change in response to the FCPS survey.
Evans' name change motion asked the community to consider Stuart in order to save money and keep alumni happy. The community did what she asked and "Stuart" received the top number of points, well above #2 and #3.
You can massage the numbers anyway you want. They even show 68.3% of the voters don't want Thurgood Marshall or Barbara Rose Johns. Of the 930 ballots cast for first place vote yield:
29.4% were for Stuart
15.9% were for Marshall
15.8% were for Barbara Johns
Or, out of 930 household votes:
273 Stuart
148 Thurgood Marshall
147 Barbara Johns
Suprisingly there were 932 householders voting, but 2 did not choose a first place name. 930 votes for first place names.
If you only use 1st place, that is not how the system was designed or used. It isn't a vote.
if you look only at votes cast without the 3,2,1 points multiplier you get: Marshall 339, Stuart 336, Johns 332.
So, 339 people selected Marshall at least once for either first, second, or 3rd choices.
You are correct — 339 unique participants selected Marshall and 336 unique participants selected Stuart. This is pretty close to a dead heat.
However, the rules set up a point weighing system so that people can pick 1-3 places. If it was a 1 only choice, perhaps there would have been more for Marshall or more for Stuart. But it was a weighted point system, where individuals were allowed to assign value to their own choices. Under these rules, Stuart received 917 points and Marshall received 763. 917-763 is not a dead heat.
You need to interpret the outcomes with an appreciation for ground rules that affect participant behavior.
I think the fcps staff will forward first 3, maybe as much as first top 5 to the school board. top 5 gives the staff almost 62% of all total points to consider.
The sad thing is that 90% of the students polled at JEB Stuart liked the current name, and saw no compelling need to change it.
Most are offended that the school is wasting up to a million dollars on the name change, even by the school systems own cost estimates.
On top of that students testified to the school board that they were bullied and threatened into silence by name changers.
It's very sad that the school board is tormenting students with revisuonist history, instead of teaching history with warts and all.
This is interesting. 90% of students don't want change. Refreshing that they don't buy into all the accusations of racism bandied about in this issue. They are used to diversity and step above the fray.
If the Principal didn't have a gag order on name change discussion, then maybe there might have been more participation. This survey you are talking about is some survey monkey BS survey.
I'd like to see a direct link to any survey that found 90% of the current students at Stuart liked the current name. Your number is almost surely based on the keepers' repeated assertion that any student who didn't have access to a computer and/or fill out a survey that was online for a limited period of time was thereby expressing that they wanted to keep the name. That's not a convincing argument.
The students have never been surveyed. I have had a student at Stuart for the past two years and this assertion is completely fabricated.
Who approved all these decisions to begin with?? Certainly not the community members. I have been in Fairfax for 35 years and this is ridiculous.
90% of students did not vote to keep the name. This is false.
Turnout for the renaming vote wasn't very high. 932 households out of 16,000+ in the Stuart Pyramid.
One reason for the low turnout could be that only households with students were notified. Homeowners in general did not receive notification about either the Sept. 9 meeting or the Sept. 16 vote.
I asked one of the registrars that day, and they said 8700 households were in the Stuart boundary. However, I can't seem to validate it online. Anyone know of where to find the doc? Or do we have to ask the region people.
I didn't vote b/c I was opposed to the name change to begin with! Stuart is a good choice because it basically didn't change anything.
Exactly. The current name of the school is Stuart HS so to change it to Stuart HS is beyond ridiculous. It's embarrassing.
We are going to waste almost 100,000 to 200,000 to name it just "Stuart". This is like a car salesman telling you got a new car, but when you drive it – it is the same 50 years old car.
ENOUGH of this silliness. The people have spoken. Stuart won. Let's move on with it.
I would've voted for MS-13 High School.
http://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2017/03/local-leader-gang-crime-angry/
Already this year, Herritty said, Jeb Stuart High School in Falls Church welcomed 47 children from Guatemala and El Salvador — the home of gang MS-13.
Just kidding…I would've voted for Munson Hill. If you look back to the history on the naming of the school, it was named for J.E.B. Stuart because the school is located on Munson Hill, the reported headquarters of J.E.B. Stuart.
Why the push for Thurgood Marshall or Barbara Rose Johns? Neither has any ties or connection to the school, or the Falls Church area.
I grew up in the Fairfax County area. I didn't ask to be born in Virginia. The state is rich in history, from the founding of our nation, to the war that could have destroyed the nation.
Never once did I drive down John Mosby Highway, Lee-Jackson Highway, or Jefferson Davis Highway and think "golly gee, this a white supremacist state. All these things are named after Confederate soldiers and they wanted to keep slaves." No more than I ever questioned Braddock Rd, Duke Street, King Street, or any of the other things named after our British origins – Prince George, Prince Frederick, Queen Anne, Prince William…..and on and on they go.
There seems to be this current thought that we can rewrite history..or better yet, erase our history.
You guys want to rename the school because of J.E.B. Stuart's role in the civil war because this was his state and he fought for his state (note, he was in the U.S. Army prior to VA seceding from the Union, so he signed up to serve his country).
Funny that I don't hear anybody complaining about other parts of his past, like all the wars with the Native Americans and all that were killed and forced off their land.
Thurgood Marshall lived in the school boundary for almost 30 years. His widow still lives here.
JEB Stuart wasn't from here either. He was born in Patrick County, VA. He only spent 5 weeks at Munson Hill. The only reason it is even remotely famous is because it was early in the war, got a lot of press coverage. Each side was trying to size up the other. It really wasn't much different from other skirmish/defensive areas in the Civil War. There is a marker on Route 7.
Barbara Johns was from Farmville, VA.
How can one be both "Union" and "Confederate"?
Wasn't Benedict Arnold both "Tory" and "Patriot"?
The only reason most of the South's leadership didn't hang from the gallows was because of the inept Johnson administration.
If you never thought about Virginia as a white supremacist state, then you were too young or blissfully ignorant of the recent past to comprehend that fact. I grew up in segregated schools and drove down roads where "Impeach Earl Warren" signs littered the roadsides. If a minister or priest stood up in church to preach against racism as inconsistent with Christian values they were called race traitors. No one is rewriting or erasing history — we are creating new history by taking positive measures to reject the stain of Jim Crow laws.
I agree with you. It's because the liberals are pushing their agenda in our public schools. Basically pushing it down our kids throats.
Thank you, Maijo. Those facts seem to have been lost amid all the fuss.
A commenter above called Stuart "a great Virginian." ???
Careful. You'll give someone ideas and before you know it, the school will be named "Powhatan."
Didn't someone try to float some Spirit Eagle thing.. about a tribe that doesn't exist anymore
I helped share the Manahoac High School theme — it touches on many of the same issues of rights and responsibilities, but resets the discussion to a time period before the Civil War and carries it forward to today's Virginia politics. Native Americans continue their struggles for representation and full rights today. Here's the Facebook page, if you'd like more background. https://www.facebook.com/ManahoacSpiritEagles/
I would remind people that we are now living in a post-Charlottesville / post-Charleston nation now. It is inconceivable to me that the school board would effectively endorse the ethos and agenda of the alt-right by retaining the Stuart name from the shameful era of massive resistance to school desegregation.
I suggest splitting the difference by naming the school "Marshall-Johns so that when my son gets to Stuart he can be inspired by the example of people who were heroes in the struggle for equal rights under law. If that makes me a triggered snowflake, then snow be it.
That's one of the most reasonable things I've read on this entire page.
This is the dumbest waste of money ever!!! My kids go to school in Fairfax and whoever voted for this dumb move in the first place needs to be replaced! Why can't money be spent in other places in the school district?
Well, the special election for the new at large board member just refutes this. Low turnout even… bye-bye Grisafe.
The bottom line here is that our locals had an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to renaming their local high school and they punted. Suggesting that the place be renamed "Stuart" was nothing more than a transparent and ridiculous attempt to save money. So, now that the locals have demonstrated they're not up to the job, it's time for the school board to do their job for them. However, since the school board was, in part, elected by the same inept voters who believe there's something purposeful about knocking a few initials off Gen. Stuart's name, I'm hardly optimistic about the outcome. Congrats, guys.
The inept voters are the ones that Grisafe signs in their yards during the special election. They are the ones that are willing to spend money for a special election, spend 100,000 for just "Stuart" instead of real new name.
The School Board voted to request that the Stuart community consider “Stuart High School” as the new name. See http://www.fcps.edu/renaming
Wow. In retrospect, it shouldn't be any surprise that our School Board zanies came up with something that daffy. Excising Gen. Stuart's first name certainly isn't fooling anyone. All it does is appeal to those voters who wish to avoid having to foot the bill for a complete renaming When seen in that context, most of the headless Stuart voters likely weren't even committed to a name change. Moreover, considering the low voter turnout, I've concluded that most local residents are largely indifferent to a name change anyway. So, despite its mindless interference, the School Board would be wise to consider tabling this issue indefinitely. However, as has become all too apparent, wisdom isn't something the School Board typically exhibits.
It wasn't really well advertized, and some voters like me showed up that afternoon after hearing about it on WTOP. Then the ballot had some just stupid names on it. No wonder everyone is unhappy.
And, some of the really stupid names got votes! I guess they were registering their disgust. 73 choices.
School Board members and community members have stated publicly and privately that in 2017 FCPS would never name a school after a Confederate War General, but, if “Stuart” is chosen as the “new” name of the school, I don’t see how it can be viewed any other way. Certainly the ‘keepers’ would see it as a victory, which would surprise no one, since it principally ‘keeps’ the school’s current name. Emails sent to community list serves as well as public FB posts confirm that the “keepers” see the 18% in favor of “Stuart” as a victory for their cause to keep the name the same, that “Stuart” = “J.E.B. Stuart.” However, Barbara Rose Johns and Justice Thurgood Marshall have essentially as much community support as the name “Stuart” by the weighted point system, and either name would be an infinitely better choice for our community in 2017.
The regulation doesn't say how the superintendent shall interpret community input, but, it's reasonable to guess that he would recommend more than one option, since the survey results show that there are three top names, by using a weighted point system: Stuart Raiders (18% of the total weighted vote), Justice Thurgood Marshall (15% of the total weighted vote), and Barbara Rose Johns (14% of the total weighted vote). It’s a very tight race. Peace Valley took 10% of the overall vote, but considering that the community voted for names in honor of people – as opposed to places — by a margin of 75% of the weighted points, it seems clear that the community wants a school named after a person.
If the FCPS board intends to solidify divisiveness in the Stuart community, it will select Marshall or Johns. Otherwise, it would be wise to select a place neutral name if the Board is hellbent on changing the name and adding a million bucks to the Fairfax County taxpayers tab.