Newport News task force to seek out new names for 4 schools
In the first months of the year — before Newport News took down its Confederate monument, before Gov. Ralph Northam asked schools to reconsider names named for racists, before the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools — Dianca Wright had a question.
She had been a proud and actively involved parent when her son attended R. O. Nelson Elementary School. But she didn’t know who R. O. Nelson was.
When she looked him up, she found a video of Robert Oliver Nelson, superintendent from 1946–1965, saying that schools would stay segregated in 1958.
Despite the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education four years earlier, ongoing litigation and requests from Black families to attend white schools, he said the school board was under no court order to integrate.
“It really resonated with me when I found out that the R. O. Nelson was someone who, in his time, wouldn’t even allow my child in the building,” Wright said.
That search led Wright to ask the school board about the names, spurring the district to research namesakes. Based on that research, the board voted 5–1 on Tuesday night to start the renaming process for Nelson, Epes Elementary, Lee Hall Elementary and Dozier Middle. New names are planned to be presented in March.
“This is not taking away from the good things that they did,” said board chairman Douglas Brown. “But this is an important step in healing the community and allowing the entire community to move forward together.”
Epes is named for Horace Epes, the first principal of Newport News High School who briefly fought for the Confederacy as part of the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets. Lee Hall is named for the estate in the northern part of the city used as a Confederate headquarters.
Gary Hunter abstained and Rebecca Aman voted against, both saying they were supportive of renaming but had questions about John Marshall Dozier Jr., school board chairman from 1958–1972.
A family member of Dozier approached the school board after his name came up, saying that he had supported integration. The school district did start integrating under Dozier and Nelson after the state’s Massive Resistance policies ended. A small group of Black students started enrolling in white schools in 1961.
In 1965, the school board reluctantly adopted a “freedom of choice” policy, within days of a federal deadline to submit a plan. Board members believed they’d lose a legal fight, according to Daily Press archives, and Nelson said they couldn’t afford to lose federal funds.
The policy led more Black students to attend white schools. However, few white students enrolled in Black schools. During the 1968-69 school year, only one of the city’s 13 Black schools had any white students.
In 1969, the board rejected a federal desegregation plan. Faced with a lawsuit, the board voted in 1971 to drop the freedom of choice policy for some students. Dozier was one of the school board members who voted to keep it and argued for it in court documents, according to Daily Press archives.
Hunter, before he abstained from the vote, said he was concerned that he still didn’t have enough information about Dozier. Presentations from district staff before the vote had focused on the board’s role in Massive Resistance.
“If Mr. Dozier was a proponent of integration, then I want it to be known,” Hunter said. “The school’s not going anywhere, I mean, why rush?”
During a public hearing, a week before Tuesday’s vote, most speakers advocated for the start of the process. Six of 15 speakers were against.
One of the common criticisms was spending money on the changes during the pandemic, when state funding for education remains uncertain.
School staff told the school board Tuesday it’d cost about $680,000 to rename the four schools, although that number could vary some as they investigate where names are in schools further. The largest expenses are changing signs, which is expected to cost about $100,000 per elementary school and $150,000 per middle school.
Superintendent George Parker said that money could be included in next year’s budget, depending on funding availability. The district could chose to break up the changes over several years.
The district is following the lead of several other Virginia school districts, creating a community-based task force to consider the names. The group will be led by district staff but include members from each school community.
Their first task will be to create naming criteria, which the school board would vote on in December. At the start of next year, the task force will solicit names and hold public input sessions before giving recommendations to Parker.
The district also plans to bring in an advisor to look at six other schools that share names with plantations and school leaders from the Jim Crow era. That report is expected in February.
“The action that we took tonight is really an important, critical step in the process,” Brown said. “This is going to allow members of our community to move on, and members of our community to let it go.”
At the end of Tuesday’s meeting, Brown specifically thanked Wright for reaching out to Terri Best and other board members, prompting the process.
Wright said after the vote that the board had done a “phenomenal” job. She sees children going to schools named for racists as a mental health issue.
“When we think about kids getting injured physically, we’re going to run to their aid,” Wright said. “With the same passion, we need to come to their mental health needs, and this is something that is a stressor.”
Matt Jones, 757-247-4729, mjones@dailypress.com
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