SAN DIEGOSAN DIEGO — As San Diego Unified builds a 500-student elementary school campus in Mission Valley next fall, a group of volunteers is reviewing several proposed names that will either pay tribute to the community’s history or highlight some influential people.
The 15-member School Names Committee serves in an advisory capacity to the San Diego Unified Board of Education, reviewing name suggestions and making recommendations.
It has been around for years, however recent public interest in school names has ignited efforts to improve San Diego Unified’s naming process, district officials said recently.
“School names should reflect the values and diversity of a community,” said Committee Chair Lidia S. Martinez. “The committee is committed to equity and transparency, and we are working hard to improve the school names process, building on recent name changes to create a more inclusive school district and city.”
This spring the group was involved in naming a t-use park after Fannie and William Payne, who were Black educators at San Diego Unified.
Also this year, the group was involved when San Diego Unified changed Serra High School to Canyon Hills High and changed Lindbergh-Schweitzer Elementary to Clairemont Canyon Academy.
The Lindbergh/Schweitzer Elementary was renamed after some in the community mentioned that both namesakes had reportedly expressed anti-Semitic or racist views.
And Father Junípero Serra, a leader of the Catholic mission system in California, personified for many an oppressive period for Native Americans, officials said during renaming discussions.
That decision met with more resistance. In July a group of residents and a religious rights group sued the district to attempt to reverse the renaming of the school.
District officials have said they want to make the process of naming schools more transparent and inclusive. With the new Mission Valley campus, the committee generated a list of proposed names and launched a community survey to collect .
Some of the proposed names are
- Nipaquay Elementary, which recognizes the Kumeyaay village of Nipawai/Nipaquai that existed in current day Mission Valley
- Quarry Falls Elementary, which is linked to the community’s quarry and mining area
- River Elementary
- Tony Gwynn Elementary, which recognizes the Padres Hall of Famer
- Dolores Huerta Elementary, which recognizes the cofounder of the United Farm Workers Association
- Roberto R. Alvarez Elementary, which recognizes the student who at age 12 won the nation’s first school desegregation case in Lemon Grove
Community have until Oct. 7 to provide input on the proposed names though an online survey.
Martinez, who retired from a 30-year career as a community outreach manager at Southwest Airlines, is ed on the committee by several community leaders, including Olympia Beltran, with the Kanap Kuahan Coalition; Ken Seaton-Msemaji, board president of Cesar Chavez Services clubs, and Shane Harris, president of the People’s Association of Justice.
“Although school names may seem minimal, it is another layer of equity that I’m looking forward to helping to pull back in our region. A child deserves to see their community reflected in their school name,” Harris said in a recent statement.
The committee were appointed by former Superintendent Cindy Marten and approved by the school board in January.
