Minneapolis Board of Education votes to rename Jefferson school

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis Board of Education voted Tuesday to rename two schools, including one named after a founding father.

The district says Jefferson Global Studies & Humanities will be renamed "Ella Baker Global Studies & Humanities" and Sheridan Dual Language Elementary will become "Las Estrellas Dual Language Elementary."

The name changes follow a process that began in 2020. Both schools were recommended for a name change in a report by a task force presented to the school board in September 2021.

The report cited Thomas Jefferson's history as a slaveholder and the fact he fathered children with an enslaved woman as reasons to rename Jefferson.

Sheridan was named after General Phillip H. Sheridan who, as the report details, "pursued brutal campaigns against Native peoples during the Indian Wars of the late 1860s and 1870s. He is known, perhaps apocryphally, for saying that "The only good Indian is a dead Indian," but the impact of his actions against Native populations is undeniable."

The district then put together teams at each school to come up with new names. For Sheridan, Las Estrellas, which means "the stars", conforms with the school's mascot.

"Sheridan students strongly identify with our current star mascot, and this was reflected in the voting results, which showed overwhelming support for Las Estrellas," said Principal Yajaira Guzman in a district release.

For Jefferson, its new name will honor civil rights activist Ella Baker. In a statement on its website, Jefferson leaders explain: "Ella Baker was an influential and respected human and civil rights activist. She acquired the nickname ‘Fundi,’ a Swahili word meaning a person who teaches the next generation. Baker believed in the power of youth to strengthen their communities and shape their future."