Sacramento City Unified is renaming three local K-12 schools. Here’s why and which ones
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Sacramento City Unified School District announced Friday it will be renaming three of its schools as part of its “commitment to confront and interrupt racism” by creating welcoming campus environments.
The name changes, approved in a Thursday board meeting: Sutter Middle School will be renamed Miwok Middle School; Peter Burnett Elementary School will be renamed Suy:u Elementary School; and Kit Carson International Academy will be renamed Umoja International Academy.
The process to rename the schools will begin this summer, meaning students will return in the fall to rebranded schools.
In fall 2020, the district identified schools that were named after people who didn’t support the district’s values, and otherwise “condoned racism, oppression, colonization and exclusion of others.”
“Peter Burnett, John Sutter and Kit Carson led the systematic killing and enslavement of large numbers of California native peoples,” the district said in a Friday news release.
The new school names were recommended by the school renaming committee, which included one-third Native American voices, one-third administrators and staff, and one-third board-appointed community members.
When deciding the new school names, the committee agreed to avoid renaming the school after a person.
Below are the school names and their meanings, according to the Sacramento City Unified news release:
Miwok Middle School
Meaning: The name is an ode to the “Miwok people who were inhabitants” of the region when Europeans arrived to California.
Address: 3150 I St.
Suy:u Elementary
Meaning: Suy:u (pronounced “suu you”) is the Miwok name for Hawk.
Address: 6032 36th Ave.
Umoja International Academy
Meaning: “Umoja is the first principle of Kwanzaa and means to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.”
Address: 5301 N St.
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