Another school in Fresno considers name change? Family says district dragging its feet
Central Unified community members will have the chance to give input on school name and mascot changes.
On Tuesday, the Central Unified board voted to create a committee to study mascot and name changes for Central Unified.
The decision comes after months of advocacy by Central Unified student, Malachi Suarez, 10, and his family’s pleas that the district change the name of Polk Elementary.
While the fifth grader and his family requested the board vote to change the name, Central Unified decided to organize a committee figure out how to handle decisions on name and mascot changes, citing school board policies.
But some say the committee represents a bureaucratic slow down of the conversation around a potential Polk Elementary name change.
“They’re doing whatever they can to postpone (a vote on the name change) until people forget about it.,” said Gabriel Suarez, father of the student calling for the name change.
A student-led idea to change school’s name
Malachi Suarez, a student at Polk Elementary, was working on an assignment through his Gifted and Talented Education program on this history behind President James K. Polk, the school’s namesake — a project that inspired him to start a change.org campaign to collect 1,500 signatures in favor of changing the name of the school. They reached their signature goal on Friday, the Suarez family said.
“The purpose of his project was to educate his peers and people in the community to get support to change the name of his school,” says his father, Gabriel Suarez. But his parents say that the project was undermined every step of the way.
“He was asked to make 10 posters for his project,” said Suarez, which were supposed to be placed on different campuses. “The district only allowed him to put one poster up at his school.”
The poster, which read “James K. Polk was racist,” was then torn down by a parent, who later described her actions on Facebook, according to a screenshot of the post reviewed by The Bee.
During public comment during board meetings and in an interview with The Bee, the Suarez family has expressed frustration at what they say is a lack of support from the district in letting Malachi share his project with the broader school community, as initially promised.
The student activist and his parents then contacted school leaders directly to address their concerns and have formally requested a vote to change the name of Polk Elementary during school board meetings.
In response, the district decided to form a committee to study and collect community feedback on the topic of school names and mascots.
The point of the committee is to “do some analysis to justify any recommendation to change the name of Polk Elementary or any other school,” said Yesenia Carrillo, the Central Unified school board president.
She is aware that Malachi’s poster was torn down by a parent, which she said “isn’t acceptable.”
“I hope that we can take away that we create a positive environment for students to feel comfortable to continue to express their ideas and their thoughts and opinions even if there is opposition,” said Carrillo. “And that adults are respectful of that and we really facilitate that as well.”
But Suarez said he thinks the district is using the committee to avoid having to vote to change the name of Polk Elementary. “They’re trying very hard not to do it,” said Suarez. “What I really think is that they use this committee to kill the name change and not ever address it.”
Suarez pointed to the example of Fresno Unified, which he said didn’t need a committee before voting to change the Fresno High mascot last year.
But district officials say that Central Unified has different policies than the Fresno Unified School District, which is why they’re approaching the request differently.
Carrillo said that Central Unified district policies state that the renaming of existing schools or major facilities “shall occur only under extraordinary circumstances and after thorough study,” said Carrillo.
“It’s an opportunity for the committee to also reach out and spend more time soliciting feedback from the community,” said Carrillo.
Polk Elementary
Polk Elementary was founded in 2004, and was named after the 11th U.S. president to honor California’s history and the “Western Movement.” According to school documents, the school wants to emphasize the ”courage and bravery of the early pioneers who settled the West.”
But not all agree with this interpretation of history.
Polk was a slaveholding president who authorized the Mexican-American War, which resulted in the U.S. acquiring much of the Southwest and California.
He also oversaw the period of American expansion inspired by the problematic idea of “manifest destiny,” which was “an attempt to justify the taking of the West — occupied by Native Americans and some Mexicans— based on belief in American cultural, racial, and political superiority, and supposedly having the approval of God,” said Allen Carden, professor of history at Fresno Pacific University.
Suarez said that there is “absolutely no way” that Central Unified can justify having a school named after James K. Polk and the mascot of the Pioneers in 2021.
“It is a blatant celebration of white supremacy and sends a clear message to students of color that they are not welcome,” said Suarez.
The Fresno area school wouldn’t be the first named after Polk to undergo a name change. In 2019, an elementary school in Baton Rouge, La., changed its name from Polk Elementary to the Eva Legard Center, in honor of the first Black woman to serve of the school board.
‘Trust in the process’
While not everyone is happy with the decision to form a committee, Carrillo said she hopes the school community will “have some trust in the process” as they research and solicit community input.
“I hope the Suarez family as well as the rest of our community —whether they support it (the name change) or they don’t — will provide the committee an opportunity to evaluate and consider,” said Carrillo. “And that they participate.”
The committee will be comprised of 21 community members and three board members — a mix of parents, students, school staff, and locals from the seven representative trustee areas.
Those interested to join the naming and mascot committee can find applications at their school site, on the district’s website, via social media, and through the district’s ParentSquare communication platform as early as Friday.
Applications are due Oct. 6 to Anita Lopez, in Room 11 of the District Offices located at 5652 W. Gettysburg, Fresno, CA 93722. Contact Anita Lopez at (559) 274-4700, Ext. 63150 with questions or assistance on the application.
Melissa Montalvo is a reporter with The Fresno Bee and a Report for America corps member. This article is part of The California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.
