Name Change Recommendation

This was originally sent by Principal Cazden on 11/19/20:

We have exciting news to share about our school renaming! The Naming Advisory Committee met on Monday night with Superintendent Stephens to review the thoughtful input from students, families, teachers and staff on the seven names being considered. In reviewing all the input, the Committee saw enthusiasm for all of the names, and also found that one of the names, "Muwekma Ohlone" was in the top three names for the straw polls of students, staff and families. 

The School Board asked the Committee to recommend one top name for their consideration at the special Board meeting on December 2nd, so the recommendation will go forward for "Muwekma Ohlone Elementary" as the new name for our school!  

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council has also been notified of the recommendation, because when granting permission for possible use of the name, Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh had requested the opportunity to write a letter of support to the Board if the tribe's name was selected. The Committee recognizes that the support of the Tribal Council, and their permission to use this name was a meaningful gift given to our school, and a very special opportunity to deepen learning about indigenous peoples and the original names given here to the land on which our school lives.

The Committee was happy to see there was enthusiasm about all seven names, and that this naming process provided an opportunity to recognize many inspiring stories, especially those of local women and women of color. The Committee heard suggestions that there should be more opportunities for learning local history, rediscovering untold stories, and upholding examples of excellence, including Ruth Acty, Ruby Bridges, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Yoshiko Uchida, Betty Reid Soskin, and Maya Angelou. The Committee discussed preliminary ideas for carrying the learning forward and will include some suggestions in the report going to the Board for the December 2nd meeting.  (When the report is ready, after Thanksgiving, it will be shared with our school community.)

Thank you to everyone who participated in this process!  We recognize that it was challenging to do this while in Distance Learning, and on a relatively short time frame, but we hope the community is excited about soon being able to celebrate a new name!