Two Palo Alto middle schools named after leading advocates of eugenics will be renamed by the 2018-19 school year, school board members unanimously decided Friday.
Trustees voted 5-0 to rename Jordan Middle School, which is named after David Starr Jordan, and Terman Middle School, because it is named in part after Lewis Terman.
Trustees asked school district officials to return this spring with a recommendation on the process of renaming the schools.
The board initially considered a recommendation to form an advisory committee that will suggest three new names by Jan. 1. Trustees ultimately decided it was best to have school staff determine if such a timeline is feasible before proceeding.
Board members agreed, however, that the district’s schools must incorporate a unit about California and Palo Alto’s role in the eugenics movement into the history curriculum of secondary schools by next school year.
The board also decided that the cost of renaming the two schools, estimated to be about $60,000, the bulk of which is for new signage and painting, will be paid out of bond funds whenever possible. Funding for curriculum cannot be paid with bond money.
Before the board’s vote, Superintendent Max McGee said any cost involved with the renaming would not be a trade-off between student programs and services or existing personnel.
The decision culminates a year-long debate in which proponents of the name changes classified the eugenics movement and its advocates as racist and out of line with the district’s values of equity, inclusion and wellness.
The board was acting on the recommendation of a committee established eight months ago to study the issue.
Terman, a former Stanford psychologist, and Jordan, an accomplished scientist and Stanford’s first president, were among a group that believed the human race could be improved through selective reproduction, including forced sterilization.
Terman also is named after Lewis Terman’s son, Frederick Terman.
Trustee Todd Collins said the debate over the name change has “unfairly tainted” the name of Frederick Terman, who was an “amazing educator,” though board members recognize that a new name is needed for a clean break from the senior Terman’s legacy.
Collins said he’s thought deeply about the decision and weighed the perspectives of those who want the renaming and those who don’t think the renaming is necessary.
“There’s been a lot of very moving testimony, and I found the testimony from those who personally felt excluded or discriminated against particularly powerful,” Collins said. “I think that’s a very difficult and real burden to bear, and so I agree with that.”
The movement began when a seventh-grade student at Jordan Middle School wrote a book report on Jordan and shared what he had learned about the school’s namesake.
Board members said their decision is in the best interest of current students and future students, and some trustees underscored the importance of having students play a role in picking new names for Jordan and Terman.
Trustee Jennifer DiBrienza said the board must act as leaders in correcting an issue that affects the equality of a marginalized group.
“To ask students to walk into a building that is named after someone who fundamentally did not think they have the right to be there is not OK, and I don’t want to ask them to do that anymore,” DiBrienza said.
