San Francisco Suspends School Renaming Effort to Focus on Reopening Schools

The decision to rename many San Francisco schools came to a halt last month when the board of education stated it was holding off on the renaming proceedings until in-person learning.

In January, the San Francisco school board voted 6-1 in favor of renaming 44 schools in the district, despite much backlash from all sides. The committee, formed back in 2018 directly after the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, determined that any schools named after anyone who “engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings … oppressed women … led to genocide; or … diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” should have their name be changed in the goal to stop their idolization. 

There was immediate backlash to the board’s decision. Both democrat and republican figures alike were vocal about their criticism for the board’s plan. Author Gary Kamiya called it “brain-dead political correctness”, and the San Francisco Chronicle’s editing board publicly denounced the decision.

San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, called the plan “offensive” and felt that more focus should be put into having schools reopen. 

“I understand the significance of the name of a school, and a school’s name should instill a feeling of pride in every student that walks through its doors… What I cannot understand is why the School Board is advancing a plan to have all these schools renamed by April, when there isn’t a plan to have our kids back in the classroom by then. Our students are suffering, and we should be talking about getting them in classrooms, getting them mental health support, and getting them the resources they need in this challenging time,” said Breed.

The decision to halt the renaming ultimately came down to waiting for schools to reopen, but some activists and board members feel that there didn’t need to be a choice between the two. They felt it wasn’t necessary to have the two issues be talked about together because there isn’t a direct connection between them, and that in doing so heightened the backlash.