FCPS announces process for renaming JEB Stuart HS
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| JEB Stuart High School, with a plaque showing the year it was built, 1959. |
Fairfax County School Public Schools Superintendent Scott
Brabrand invites the Stuart community to a meeting Saturday, Sept. 9, 10 a.m.,
at JEB Stuart High School to consider a new name for the school.
Brabrand invites the Stuart community to a meeting Saturday, Sept. 9, 10 a.m.,
at JEB Stuart High School to consider a new name for the school.
The school board voted July 27 to change the school’s
name no later than the start of the 2019 school year. The resolution passed by
the school board calls for the community to consider “Stuart High School” as
the new name – as a compromise to minimize costs and retain continuity – but that’s not the only possibility.
name no later than the start of the 2019 school year. The resolution passed by
the school board calls for the community to consider “Stuart High School” as
the new name – as a compromise to minimize costs and retain continuity – but that’s not the only possibility.
“I’ve met with both sides on this issue and it has
yielded strong feelings and strong passions,” Brabrand wrote in an email to the
community. “Now that the board has spoken, we will continue to follow the
process as outlined by the school board regulation for name changes. We will
execute the renaming process in a fair, transparent, and expedient manner.”
yielded strong feelings and strong passions,” Brabrand wrote in an email to the
community. “Now that the board has spoken, we will continue to follow the
process as outlined by the school board regulation for name changes. We will
execute the renaming process in a fair, transparent, and expedient manner.”
The Sept. 9 meeting will be open to the public. Alternative
names will be put forth for consideration and there will be an opportunity for presentations,
questions, and discussion.
names will be put forth for consideration and there will be an opportunity for presentations,
questions, and discussion.
As outlined in the regulation, Brabrand says, voting for
the school name will be limited to those participants residing in the school’s
attendance area. A weighted point system will be used to determine the top
three choices. Voting will take place on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the school, 10
a.m.-6 p.m.
the school name will be limited to those participants residing in the school’s
attendance area. A weighted point system will be used to determine the top
three choices. Voting will take place on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the school, 10
a.m.-6 p.m.
After review of the community’s recommendations, Brabrand
will submit a recommendation to the school board “consisting of one or more of the most popular
choices according to community input.”
will submit a recommendation to the school board “consisting of one or more of the most popular
choices according to community input.”
I wish they'd begin the process to unwind the 2011 segregation of Annandale High School… It's quite astonishing that in 2017 the optics of the JEB Stuart name clearly are more important than righting a real and ongoing wrong. We're in the world is Tessie Wilson these days? She perpetrated this then rode off into the sunset, along with her other school board cronies.
I've heard of this can you say a bit more about it. It had to do with sending some of the kids closer to the braddock area to somewhere else, no?
what is the Annandale segregation???
Over a period of time, the School Board stripped away many single-family neighborhoods zoned for Annandale and moved them to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Woodson and Edison. Most of this happened between 2005 and 2011, under a different School Board. It's largely a long-term consequence of the decision to turn Jefferson HS into TJHSST, which meant that all the low-income apartments along 236 from just east of Landmark to the Beltway ended up at Annandale.
Congratulations to Sandy Evans and her school board colleagues whose dismissal of the JEB Stuart community probably just guaranteed a junk of votes for whomever is the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2018. People remember.
Yeah–that's right! All y'all who want to live in the Old South, go out and vote in the 2018 gubernatorial election. That'll show 'em!
Erasing history is what the worst dictators and forms of governments do.
Who is paying for this?
The same people who are paying for the football fields, the tracks, the gymnasium, etc.
So alumni don't have a say?
Change the name to Douglas Wilder High school.
No. He's a democrat and the democrat party has a history of not just starting the civil war and the confederacy, but the kkk, segregation, Jim Crow, mass resistence, and any thing hateful.
I heard they also killed the dinosaurs and are responsible for the Marin only being a seasonal thing
McRib! Damn you autocorrect.
So NOW the SB wants to follow the renaming regulation!?! They ignored due process and rule of law for two years during this "proces", but now will follow the regulation AFTER the vote?
The SB Gang of Six is as corrupt as they get. Six board members voted against Kaufax's motion to adhere to the renaming regulation; have the Superintendent review the process in place and determine whether it was followed; have the Superintendent define the terminology: compelling need, sufficient support and community, and recommend next steps. Six SB members actually voted against adhering to their regulation…because they knew they didn't. Abuse of process. Abuse of power. This is why there is talk about a lawsuit.
Time to get the SB obeying regulations. They are lawless.
Don't lecture us about process, when your understanding appears to be that that the school board works for the superintendent. They work for us, the voters. Vote this issue–even run for a seat and campaign on it. I know I won't be voting for you.
You wish the SB worked for the voters! That is the optimal scenario. Too many members of the school board are working for their political parties, which is a no-go according to the FCSB Code of Conduct. They are elected on a non-partisan ballot, but are pushing their political agendas.
Seems you need a primer. Read the regulation. R. 8170.7. The SB passes the buck to the Superintendent after they fulfill their responsibilities. That's the rub. They voted down a motion to adhere to the regulation because they knew it wasn't followed. Then they voted to rename the school without having folllowed the rules. Abuse of process. Abuse of Power.
Suggest you do some homework so you understand the situation.
Son, the superintendent even told the board to do their job and make a decision. According to you, this would have only delayed the same decision for a couple of months, so you could hold on to your confederate ideals for so much longer.
I don't know how much more "process" needs to be in place after the School Board has studied this to death for two years, convened community meetings, appointed an Ad Hoc Working Group, and held a working session on the name change. If they can't be charged with making a decision like this on their own, without defining every term in a regulation that might otherwise require them to exercise some judgment, it's surprising that we've looked to them to make decisions about the budget, compensation, or boundaries without imposing even more procedural hoops for them to jump through.
It's amusing, but not entirely surprising, that the same folks who claimed that FCPS should not spend a dime on changing a school's name are now threatening litigation against FCPS that presumably would also cost the school system resources to defend, no matter how frivolous. It goes to show that it was never about the money, and always about defending the Confederate general's name.
The SB members who abstained and voted against the resolution to change the name stated that the community needs more time to become educated and "come together" on this issue. They believe that the 'process' of the regulation 8170.7 that stipulates that the community shall be engaged on a possible name change was not followed in the case of the name change for J.E.B. Stuart HS. I and many other people disagree, and this is why: the community has been engaged on this issue for well over a year. Community engagement and education on this issue includes the work of the ad hoc committee that organized two open community meetings in May 2017 and the Confederate bus tours in May 2017, in addition to the several ad hoc committee and multiple subcommittee meetings February through May 2017, as well as citizen participation at open school board meetings througout 2016 and 2017, an earlier June 2016 community meeting and surveys, and the very recent June 2017 school board working meetings when ad hoc committee members for and against the name change presented to the board and answered questions on behalf of the "keepers" and the "changers". All of this, all of these meetings and testimonies, etc., were not able to unify the community, but were a vehicle to engage the community on the name change discussion and give community members the opportunity to learn different points of view and form their own opinions. What more could we have done to educate the community, as the school board members who voted no or abstained to vote on the resolution to change the name, claim was not done? There was no abuse of power or abuse of process, for Pete's sake. This process has engaged so many in our communities who have also reached out to others through neighborhood list serves, etc. There has been tons of education and engagement and no further time or meetings are needed to educate or engage folks on this issue.
Truth. Recognizing that some of the School Board members are extremely conflict and risk-averse, the community had reached a point where it wanted the School Board to make a decision and not kick the can down the road yet again. No doubt that they could have done a better job by conducting a more rigorous survey, appointing a real mediator to coordinate the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group, or allowing (rather than suppressing) discussions of the potential name change among students in an organized setting during school hours. But, imperfect as the process was, it elicited clear feedback that many members of the Stuart community have been and continue to be deeply offended by the "JEB Stuart" name, and it was past time for the Board to act.
Remember that the staff and the superintendent report to the school board. If the school board, when they received the hundreds of pages of ad hoc committee reports May 24, 2017, thought the staff should synthesize or summarize the reports into a more digest-able or read-able format, they should have told them to do so. The staff cannot read their minds, and the community cannot tell the staff what to do. Staff works for the school board.
Who is paying for this?? Who voted on this? My mother has worked at Jeb Stuart for over 25 years, and this is so insulting to the community!!!
Why are we not worried about MS-13, but are worried about political BS names in our school system! I demand a letter be sent out to everyone in Fairfax County and who actually had a say in this matter, and who is paying for all this to happen!!!
This is a ridiculous political move. There were many good men on both sides. What’s next? A proposal to get rid of anything named after Robert E. Lee? Stonewall Jackson? Give us all a break and focus on relevant issues.