The Orange County Schools Board of Education approved new names for two of its schools on Monday night: River Park Elementary School and Orange Middle School.

Both names passed in a single, unanimous vote by the school board. The new names update the schools known as Cameron Park Elementary School and C.W. Stanford Middle School. Renaming the two schools is part of a 14-step strategy outlined in a recent school board policy to improve how the district addresses racial inequities, intolerance and academic disparities.

The board voted on several names proposed by a School Renaming Committee, formed earlier in the year to determine the best online submissions from the Orange County Schools community. The committee, made up of 18 people, met six total times and first presented the name options to the board on June 9.

Chair of the Board Hillary MacKenzie spoke ahead of the vote, voicing support for the two options. She said while the school district’s community often has a variety of opinions on subjects, there was a clear majority that supported River Park and Orange as the new names.

“The feedback we received in this case was resounding,” said MacKenzie. “That one, people support renaming these schools, and two, that people support [school names] not based around people.”

Other names presented to replace Stanford Middle were Poplar Middle, Hillsborough Middle and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett Middle, a late addition to the group at the latest board meeting where names were discussed. Board members and district staff discussed honoring Corbett, a Hillsborough native who helped develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, in a separate way in the near future.

The other name option presented for Cameron Park Elementary School was Arbor Park.

The district’s school board unanimously voted in February to change the namesake of Cameron Park Elementary School from Paul Carrington Cameron. Cameron was one of the wealthiest North Carolinians in the 19th century, having owned around 1,900 enslaved people before his death in 1853.

The board’s initial discussions around changing the name of C.W. Stanford Middle School resulted in more mixed opinions, both from the community and other board members. Community members suggested changing the namesake from Stanford, a long-time Board of Education leader until the 1960s, due to the lack of Black and minority voices allowed to participate in school board meetings.

School board member Bonnie Hauser said she learned a lot of history in the process, but said she wanted to address “misinformation” around Stanford. She cited the funding disparities between segregated schools were based on state decisions and said Stanford never owned slaves.

“We are not renaming because of Mr. Stanford,” Hauser said, “we are renaming because of the time.”

The new names for the two schools will formally become effective on August 15, as approved by the Board of Education. School leadership for each will also have an opportunity to review and update school colors and mascots.

 

Photo via Town of Chapel Hill.

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