By unanimous vote, the Alexandria City Public Schools Board has decided to change the name of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria.
Earlier this year, school leaders started The Identity Project. Schools Superintendent Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. described The Identity Project as a “robust public community engagement process which will begin with our community education and engagement program around the possibility of changing the name of T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School.”
Following months of read-ins and community discussion, the names T.C. Williams and Matthew Maury have been stripped from their schools.
T.C. Williams was named for former ACPS superintendent Thomas Chambliss Williams, who opposed desegregation. The Identity Project webpage describes him as "a staunch segregationist whose views could not have been more inconsistent with the vibrant, diverse and inclusive place we know today."
Matthew Maury Elementary School was named after a Virginia resident who was considered the founder of oceanography — who was also a Confederate Navy member. Maury tried to establish a Confederate colony in Mexico after the South lost the war.
This spring, the school system will start a community-wide discussion on what to rename the schools. The new names — whatever they are — would be effective at the start of the 2021 academic year.
Already, community members are submitting names through letters to the editor in local newspapers and on social media. Suggestions include Hundley High School (named after a local civil rights leader), John Porter High School (named after a former principal), Alexandria City High School and several other ideas.
Monday afternoon, a local Facebook group that advocated for renaming the schools changed its name from "Rename T.C. Williams High School" to "Yes, We Renamed That High School in Alexandria."
The Facebook Group's moderators, Lindsey Woodson Vice and Marc Solomon, wrote: Congratulations are in order to this group! This epic development was decades in the making and a result of the tireless efforts of community leaders, activists, students, alums, and finally our ACPS school board! I extend gratitude to you all for helping to make this happen! Onwards and upwards for ACPS!"
