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School named after eugenics leader is now Rosa Parks Middle School

The SCUSD school board voted tonight to rename the former Goethe Middle School officially as Rosa Parks Middle School....

The vote was 5 in favor, with one abstention and 1 no vote. Member Michael Navarrete voted no on the grounds that he wanted a person with local roots to be put on the middle school.

13 year old Michael Zamora, who introduced himself to the board tonight as "a leader from the last graduating class of Goethe Middle School" brought to the board's attention an election that he helped to conduct on campus which almost unanimously supported the Rosa Parks option for the new name.  Several board members cited their strong belief in honoring the student body's conclusion in their "yes" vote for Rosa Parks.

Wanda Williams, administrative assistant at the school site for the past 17 years, was elated with the decision.  "I am a child of the south.  I grew up not being able to approach the soda fountain at the drug store because I wasn't white.  We are happy to be rid of Charles M. Goethe's ugly legacy on our beautiful school.  There is great poetic justice in the fact that the new namesake comes from a woman who's very life's blood represented a set of values totally opposite the ideology of Goethe.  I am looking forward to our renaming-slash- exorcism ceremony before the start of next school year."

The other two name options were Ruth Holbrook and Mitsui Endo.  A motion to vote on the name Ruth Holbrook was carried by member Roy Grimes early in the evening.  His motion failed with only 3 yes votes.

Related Links

  • Tony Platt, Alexandra Stern: It's time to stop honoring the leaders of the eugenics movement