It will cost between $30,000 and $35,000 to change the names of three Charlottesville schools before the start of the new school year, according to a school division estimate.
For those that have been following the yearslong — and often controversial — process of replacing the names of schools, roads, parks and other public spaces to bring them more in line with modern modern standards and values, that’s considerably more than figures previously discussed.
Last year, when Charlottesville’s neighboring school division was discussing its name changes, Albemarle County Public Schools said the renaming would come at a “modest cost” of about $2,000.
That estimate is simply not realistic, said Charlottesville City Schools spokeswoman Beth Cheuk. It is unlikely any school would be able to buy and install signs alone for that price, she told The Daily Progress.
Last January, the Charlottesville School Board voted to change the names of Clark and Venable elementary schools.
Clark was named for George Rogers Clark, a Revolutionary War general born in Albemarle County and nicknamed the “Conqueror of the Old Northwest.” Clark, the man, was a celebrated hero in his day, but his legacy has depreciated over the years, specifically his violent treatment of Native Americans during the war.
Clark Elementary will be renamed Summit Elementary, a nod to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains and evoking the idea of students striving for excellence, according to the school division.
Venable, on the other hand, was named for Charles S. Venable, a Confederate officer and aide-de-camp to Gen. Robert E. Lee. A mathematician and astronomer by trade, he served as a professor at the University of Virginia and a city school board member after the war. So loyal was Venable to Lee and his cause, Venable was given the nickname “Faithful Old Venable.”
Venable Elementary will be renamed Trailblazer Elementary, honoring those who led the local fight to desegregate Charlottesville schools and encouraging current students to “continue blazing new trails.”
A month after the votes to change the two schools’ names, the city’s school board also moved to acquire full ownership of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center, or CATEC.
Founded in 1973 as a jointly owned and operated facility between Charlottesville and Albemarle, CATEC provides technical education to adults 16 years and older in such subjects as automobile technology, cosmetology and masonry, among others.
CATEC’s name change is slight. It will transition from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center to the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center. But that transition will still require new signage and other changes.
The $30,000-$35,000 total covers the cost of removing and replacing the schools’ signs, Cheuk said. It does not include the cost of purchasing new stationary, merchandise or floor mats that might bear the schools’ names.
How much more the final bill could cost the school division is unclear.
“We created a big checklist of things that may need to be changed based on other school districts that we’ve researched,” she said. “We don’t know.”
However, she does not expect it to cost significantly more than the most recent estimate.
“I don’t think we have a final cost and may not have a final cost until later in the summer or later in the fall,” Cheuk added.
Funding for the project will come from the School Capital Improvement Project, more than $100 million allocated to the division from the city. The city’s budget apportioned how this money should be spent — about $88 million to renovate Buford Middle School (the future Charlottesville Middle School) with leftover funds used to replace roofs and HVAC systems in other schools — without mentioning replacing signage. However, Cheuk said the $30,000-$35,000 will be covered as the budget is revised periodically.
“We’ve been in conversation with the city for a long time about this, so the idea that it would be a surprise, it would not be a surprise,” she said.
One factor that could be increasing the price of the renamings is the buildings themselves. Cheuk said that replacing the signs on Clark Elementary is expected to be the most expensive of the three given it’s a 93-year-old structure with its name in metal letters on three different sides of the building.
The street signage, which is factored into the current cost, will be significantly cheaper to alter, she said.
The new signage will be unveiled this August at individual ribbon-cutting ceremonies:
■ Trailblazer at 10 a.m. Sept. 9.
■ Summit at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 25.
■ And CATEC at 10 a.m. Sept. 28. That last ceremony will also include an open house celebrating the school’s 50th anniversary.
Not all of the local name changes have progressed as far or as smoothly, especially at schools with living relatives, colleagues or friends. Name changes at both Burnley-Moran Elementary School in the city and Agnor-Hurt Elementary School in the county have faced and continue to face vocal pushback from those who knew Sarepta Moran and Ben Hurt, both former principals in their respective districts.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com