Two of Fresno’s largest school districts laying groundwork for changing names, mascots
Two of Fresno’s largest school districts recently formed committees to develop new policies for naming — and renaming — schools and mascots.
On Wednesday, the Fresno Unified School Board announced the final members of their committee, which will develop recommendations on a process for changing the names of schools and mascots.
The move at Fresno Unified came a week after Central Unified formed its committee to review the “appropriateness” of school names and solicit community input.
Both groups were formed in response to increasing interest from community members to change the names of local area schools named for leaders with controversial histories and mascots with offensive imagery.
At least one of the committees, however, is starting with tension. Two of the Central Unified’s committee members have clashed over the student petition to change the name of Polk Elementary, a project that sparked the creation of the district’s naming committee.
Both parents — Gabriel Suarez and Gina Sellars — acknowledged the tension but said they could work together.
It’s unclear why Central Unified Trustee Jeremy Mehling selected both Suarez and Sellars to sit on the committee. Mehling, who is not on the district’s renaming committee, said he could not comment on the decision he made.
Two districts, two different approaches
The FUSD school board voted on the decision to create a committee in October after the board decided to change the name of Forkner Elementary to H. Roger Tatarian.
H. Roger Tatarian Elementary is the second Fresno Unified school to receive a significant makeover within the past year.
Last year, Fresno Unified trustees changed Fresno High’s decades-old Native American mascot image but kept the “Warriors” moniker. In May, the district revealed the new Fresno High mascot, which depicts Royce Hall. That effort was sparked by Jamie Nelson, a Fresno man and Yokuts activist.
Fresno Unified’s committee includes three district staffers nominated by Superintendent Bob Nelson: Chief of Staff David Chavez, Nikki Henry, chief communications officer, and Lindsay Sanders, FUSD’s chief of equity. Community members were also selected from each trustee area: Clint Olivier (Trustee Area 2), Rochelle Martinez-Cantu (Trustee Area 6), Andy Levine (Trustee Area 4), Oliver Baines (Trustee Area 1), and Judy Jo Wilson (Trustee Area 3).
On Wednesday, FUSD trustees appointed three more community members to the committee: Pao Yang (Trustee Area 5), Kay Bertken (Trustee Area 7), and Maise Aguilar, a student representative. In total, Fresno Unified has 11 committee members.
The committee plans to hold meetings to discuss and develop a draft policy regarding the Renaming of Facilities in December. It expects to have a draft policy placed on the agenda in mid-January. After soliciting board feedback on the draft policy and integrating any changes, the committee plans to have a final draft in early March 2022, according to an FUSD staff report.
The draft policy on renaming of facilities will include a statement regarding beliefs and commitments, specific reasons/criteria that would prompt renaming consideration, a detailed process for the community to request the renaming of a facility with specific criteria and parameters, and a detailed process for considering new names with specific criteria and parameters.
Meanwhile, Central Unified formed a 24-person committee to study their school names and mascots, gather community input, and make recommendations. The committee includes 21 parents, community members, staff, alumni, and three school board trustees. Board President Yesenia Carrillo and Vice President Richard Solis will be on the committee, as well as a rotating third trustee.
The Central Unified committee plans to have a final recommendation before the school board in May next year.
Central Unified committee work to start with tension among two members
The effort to rename Polk Elementary was the spark that launched Central Unified’s renaming committee. However, it also was the catalyst for the lingering tensions between two committee members — Suarez and Sellers.
Suarez’s 10-year-old son, Malachi, started the petition to rename the school as part of a class project. As part of that effort, Malachi displayed a poster at the school that said, “Polk is a racist,” and appeared to depict splattered blood.
Sellers acknowledged she was angered by the poster and tore it off the wall, infuriating the Suarez family.
Sellars said she was upset with how the student’s project was presented and said parents weren’t given enough context beforehand.
“All I heard was a student saying, ‘Polk is racist. Everybody at Polk is racist because we accept our school being named after a racist,” said Sellars. She said she was concerned that students as young as 4 years old would see the poster portraying blood.
Sellars said when district leadership learned of the incident, Sellars returned the poster to the school, which was put back on the wall.
Suarez has been open about his frustration with the district’s handling of the incident and has repeatedly called on the district to “discipline” Sellars.
He has also criticized the district for not putting his son on the renaming committee and questioned the need for a committee at all, noting that Fresno Unified changed the Fresno High mascot before establishing a policy.
Speaking with The Bee earlier this week, Suarez and Sellars said they could put aside their differences and work together.
“Otherwise, I would not have applied for the committee,” said Suarez.
Sellars said that she is open to the idea of changing school names. “I feel like we should name them (schools and school buildings) after people from our own community,” she said.
She said that she is also ready to be productive and work with all the committee members on the team. “We’re gonna have to work together,” said Sellars.
District spokesperson Gilbert Magallon said this week the 24-member committee was still trying to schedule its first meeting.
