Rich-what, Richmond!
George Wythe (Richmond) is now officially Richmond High School of the Arts. This leaves George Wythe (Wytheville) as the only high school in Virginia named for one of the Founding Fathers from Virginia.
Will they keep their school colors (Navy, Red, White) and/or mascot (Bulldogs) or go with a new mascot and/or colors? Richmond Bulldogs, Richmond
This was one of four schools in the Richmond area to be renamed. According to Richmond Schools, this was done in order to remove names of people or symbols that represent racist ideologies, including people who served in the Confederate army or owned slaves. The schools’ new names were based on local history and geography, and were recommended by a committee after several public hearings between March and May to get community feedback on possible new names.
Richmond School Board renames four schools despite some votes against it
https://www.wric.com/news/local-new...l-have-new-names-following-school-board-vote/
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — On Tuesday night, the Richmond City School Board changed four school names in the district in a 6-3 vote.
Following the board’s vote, the new names of the school are now:
- George Wythe High School will now be Richmond High School for the Arts
- John B. Cary Elementary School will now be Lois-Harrison Jones Elementary School
- Ginter Park Elementary School will now be Frances W. McClenney Elementary School
- Binford Middle School will now be Dogwood Middle School
The original recommendation for Ginter Park Elementary School was Northside Elementary School. However, many board and community members favored naming the school Frances W. McClenney Elementary School after the first Black teacher employed at the school. McClenney later became Ginter Park’s first Black and first female principal.
While the motion passed to change all four school names, some board members voted against it.
“Colleagues, I don’t support banning books, I don’t support canceling speakers, and I do not support renaming schools. I vote no,” said 4th District Representative Jonathan Young.
Along with Young, 2nd District Representative Mariah White and 8th District Representative Dawn Page also voted against the motion. “I am so glad to see this was revised, Mr. Kamras, from the last time, although I am against naming schools names,” said Ms. White. “I am sure this school will be named after Ms. McClenney. It looks good.”
On another note, Rep. Young was the same Representative that back in late January proposed to close 5 Richmond schools including Class 2 Boys Basketball power John Marshall - which angered several people
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https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-new...proposes-closing-five-schools-february-1-2023)