Faced with a lawsuit and an unfavorable ruling from a Superior Court judge, the San Francisco school board voted on Tuesday to rescind a controversial January resolution approving the renaming of 44 district schools.
The reversal, approved 6-0 at a regular board meeting conducted on Zoom, means that Dianne Feinstein Elementary School, Abraham Lincoln High School and others that had attracted considerable controversy during the renaming process will remain unchanged for now. The board said it would revisit the renaming effort only after students returned to school five days a week, likely in the fall.
Some Jewish groups, including a collection of parents at Feinstein Elementary, expressed opposition specifically to the renaming of that school, which was proposed because of an incident involving the then–San Francisco mayor in 1984 (Feinstein defended the inclusion of a Confederate battle flag in a historical display outside City Hall).
Should Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s name be removed from a San Francisco elementary school?
A volunteer panel appointed by the Board of Education says yes, and is recommending a renaming to city officials.
The School Names Advisory Committee formed two years ago amid a nationwide reckoning on Confederate statues and monuments to America’s racist past. “Many communities are blazing a path toward a more relevant and culturally responsive approach to addressing historical wrongs,” stated the school board resolution forming the committee, adopted May 22, 2018.
The volunteer “blue-ribbon panel” was tasked with reviewing all 114 public school names for their appropriateness, with close attention to those named for people “who engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings,” or who “oppressed women,” or whose “actions led to genocide,” or who “otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the p