Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to Cameron Park Elementary School as a middle school.
C.W. Stanford Middle School in the Orange County Schools district will see its name changed in the coming months.
The system’s Board of Education on Monday moved ahead with plans to shift the school from honoring Charles Whitson Stanford Sr., a long-time school board chairman for the district who served from 1941 to 1967. The school district dedicated the middle school in his honor in 1970 shortly before Stanford’s death.
The decision for change, which comes two weeks after the district unanimously approved to change the name of an elementary school that honored a slaveholder, came with a 5-2 vote. School board members Will Atherton and Bonnie Hauser were the dissenting votes.
The change comes amid Orange County Schools’ efforts to improve how it addresses racial inequities, intolerance and academic disparities, as dictated in a a 14-step strategy outlined in a recent school board policy. Among the steps is an initiative to “review the names of buildings in our district to examine their origin and compliance.”
The case of C.W. Stanford Middle saw mixed opinions when school staff reviewed feedback from community members and even school board members. Living descendants of Stanford’s shared their thoughts about the proposed change on February 8 and Monday, describing him as a man who led during a time of systems enforcing discrimination instead of someone who actively upheld those systems.
Some who provided feedback through a submission form on C.W. Stanford Middle, however, pointed to how segregated schools saw inequitable funding during Stanford’s leadership and a lack of urgency to integrate following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.
LaTarndra Strong, the president of the Northern Orange chapter of the NAACP, shared her thoughts on this during the public comment period of Monday’s meeting. She said while she understands why many Stanford family members may point to his achievements, the inaction of the district under his leadership to swiftly integrate schools or provide additional funding to Black schools was detrimental.
“That indecision had material harm,” said Strong. “I would ask you to consider, the members of our board and people of our school district, the students that were alive during that time that were denied an education. That’s the part of the conversation that doesn’t get talked about enough.”
The discussion about a change of names for C.W. Stanford Middle saw a postponement on February 8, when the school board approved an eventual change to the name of Cameron Park Elementary School. Named after Hillsborough resident and notorious 19th century slave owner Paul Carrington Cameron, its change over the summer will be the first made from a list compiled by school-based Equity Teams and administrators for review.
While the majority of board members voiced their plans to vote for a change to better provide a tolerant environment and to move into a new chapter of history, Hauser and Atherton indicated their votes against it came from a lack of clear information on Stanford’s background. Atherton, who made the motion to rename the school in the February 8 meeting, said his requests for additional history on Stanford’s decision-making as a board leader were not met during the two weeks between meetings.
“As I look through this information,” he said, “there’s nothing specific to Mr. Stanford in what he did or did not do, and it does not provide any contextual information of Mr. Stanford. I’m really struggling with the board saying without any facts on the individuals that anyone on the board during this time could not have done any positive work toward our community, equity or students.”
In her comments, Hauser said her conversations with community members led her to believe addressing other ongoing inequities in the district’s education and focusing on student recovering after moving back to in-person classes would be better suited for the board’s attention.
Several descendants of Stanford who spoke on Monday said they were not contacted by the Orange County Schools district staff about the potential name change or contacted to gather more information.
C.W. Stanford Middle School’s name will be changed sometime over the summer ahead of the new academic year, according to the school board.
Photo via ABC11.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
It is worth noting that C.W. Stanford came from a prominent 19th century slave-holding family. The family owned a large plantation in and around what is now the Cane Creek Reservoir west of Chapel Hill. Stanford grew up on the farm. His grandfather, William Gaston Stanford, was a Confederate solider, and the family owned at least nine slaves at the time of the 1860 census. This may have had no bearing on C.W. Stanford’s racial beliefs, but again, it’s worth noting.
ayo dis my school bruh