HCSB agrees to consider 2 new names next week

Following a workshop retreat session held by Hanover County School Board members last week, it appears the panel has decided on its two choices for the former Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School.

The press release announced that Mechanicsville had been selected as the new name for Lee-Davis and Bell Creek will replace Stonewall Jackson at the middle school.

Those names will be presented at this month’s school board meeting for consideration and approval. If the names are accepted, it will end a more than decades-old effort to change the names of the two schools that celebrate Confederate icons.

In 2018, the latest attempts to change the names began in earnest, as citizens and stakeholders demanded the school board consider a change. Board members responded by distributing a citizens’ survey to gauge public opinion. Results indicated more than 80 percent of Hanover citizens wanted to maintain the current names.

At that time, the board voted 5-2 to keep the names, but that didn’t deter those seeking a change who maintained the names were an insult to African American students and offensive to many who attended the schools.

Last year, the Hanover NAACP filed suit against the school board in an effort to force them to reconsider a change, but board members again resisted.

The suit was dismissed earlier this year, but an appeal seemed imminent.

In an effort to alleviate further legal action, board members began considering a possible change, and voted in July to change the names of the two schools.

That began a renaming process that some say ignored the wishes of the public, with the school board appointing a renaming committee in August consisting of retired educators, students, parents and community stakeholders. Following a series of meetings, the panel selected Twin Rivers for the high school and Mechanicsville for the middle school.

A public survey also was compiled to gauge community input.

Those committee selections did not sit well with school board members, who decided to take more time to consider options and gather more public input. The committee was disbanded, and the name Twin Rivers was eliminated from consideration at a regular school board meeting last month.

Last week’s announcement of the two new proposed names is perhaps the last step in a long and painful process, and reaction to the changes evoke strong emotions.

Robert Barnette, president of Hanover’s NAACP Chapter, said the announcement is a step in the right direction. “Black students in Hanover County have endured a hostile school environment that derives directly from the naming of these schools after Confederate generals and the celebration of the Confederacy and its defense of slavery. With today’s name change, the Hanover County School Board has taken an important step toward providing an equal education for all students.”

Barnette indicated the name change could propel additional changes for minority students in Hanover County.

“In addition, the Hanover County School Board‘s decision to end the shameful, decades-long practice of forcing children who choose to participate in school sports and extracurricular activities to wear uniforms created for the express purpose of honoring the Confederacy and the leaders who fought to preserve slavery indicates that there is hope for a more inclusive educational experience for All Hanover County students,” Barnette said. “Although, there still remains much work to do.”

The decision also left some committee members scratching their heads and wondering if their hours of effort in the renaming process was considered or valued.

A student who served on that committee was vocal regarding his experience on the panel, but asked that his comments be published anonymously.

“I was kind of taken aback once I heard the name suggestions that the board came up with. We had eliminated the name ‘Bell Creek’ for the middle school around round 2 to stay consistent with previous rationale,” the committee member said. “We removed Bell Creek because there was a consensus in the committee that we should have a name that represents the whole school jurisdiction, not just part of it, as well as the Bell Creek neighborhood is completely in the Chickahominy middle school district, if I recall correctly.”

Dr. Carol Cash headed the committee and told school board members earlier this month that students on the committee did not favor the name Mechanicsville for the high school rename.

This committee member confirmed that interpretation. “Personally, I also did not want the name Mechanicsville for the high school, because I’ve talked to numerous peers that were way more enthusiastic about a name like Twin Rivers rather than Mechanicsville,” he said.

After hours of work and research, the student said it became apparent early that the final decision would lay with the board, and viewed the work of the committee as a type of lip service.

“Toward the end of the process, it became apparent that the school board was going to get their way with the names they wanted, no matter what the committee chose,” he said. “At the third meeting, the committee made a choice to recommend Creek Run for the middle school, and Twin Rivers for the high school.”

Those recommendations, according to the student, were nixed by school officials and committee members were told that administrations would not endorse those choices.

In order to gain that endorsement, the committee offered what was a compromise. “We proposed the idea to the group of Mechanicsville for the middle school (to hopefully appease the board and Dr. (Michael) Gill [superintendent of schools] and Twin Rivers for the high school (so we didn’t have identical names and we had at least one of our suggestions used),” the student said. “Dr. Gill said he would endorse this compromise, and then the committee voted to approve this recommendation 18-2.”

While the student said he was disappointed the work of the committee was discounted, he supports the board’s decision and their choice of names.

“First off, I want to say that I support whatever decision the school board does land on, as I believe any name in the running to be selected will be exponentially better than the previous ones we had,” he said. “This being said, I am disappointed that multiple hours of hard work over video conferencing and research done outside of meetings was just thrown to the side as if it was nothing.”

He said his fellow members on the committee took the renaming task seriously. “We worked hard coming up with these recommendations. It was not easy narrowing it down from a list of over 3,000 to two final choices,” he said. “I personally am disappointed that the Hanover County School Board does not recognize this, and I am also disappointed that they will be moving forward with names they spent one weekend coming up with, when the committee spent multiple weeks working for our recommendations.”

The student said he suspected from the start of the process that the final decision would be made by the school board. “In the end, I think it’s important to note that I had a feeling from the start of this process that it was going to turn out like this, because of what I’ve seen the board do in the past. I’m proud that they have cleansed our schools of the names and symbols of racism, but it does seem that they want to use their power as much as possible.”

He’s also not sure a stated goal to include students in the renaming process, in the final analysis, didn’t fall short of the mark.

“When you serve on the school board, the students should come first, not the interests of yourself or your supervisor. I have friends that are telling me that they aren’t happy with the board’s decision. The board is making a choice based solely upon voices that don’t walk the halls of these buildings every day. To me, that’s a problem.”

The school board will consider the names for approval at its Oct. 13 meeting. Mascots and colors will be chosen at the school level at a later date.