On January 5, the Corvallis School District School Renaming Task Force met virtually for meeting #9.
- The task force will be discussing their recommendation of names for Jaguar, Husky, and Wildcat Elementary schools next week.
- The remaining list of school names was reviewed through the lens of the school board school naming criteria and a final recommendation to the superintendent will include whether additional schools should be considered for renaming.
- The task force will finalize a recommendation to the Superintendent at their final meeting on January 12.
While next week will conclude the work of the School Renaming Task Force, the recommendations are part of a larger process. “I am grateful for the diligence and research of our task force volunteers. The significance of naming a school requires multiple levels of review which is an important step before bringing names forward to the school board,” shared Superintendent Ryan Noss. “This group demonstrated commitment and a tremendous ability to share their lived experience and values throughout the process.”
The board may determine an additional process they may want as part of the overall approach to renaming schools.
Specific Criteria for School Names
The task force members are required to provide recommendations of names for the three schools (Husky, Jaguar, Wildcat Elementary Schools) that meet specific criteria:
- The social justice implications of the history, work, and representation of any figure for whom a school is named should be fully explored and understood. Additional weight in recommendation should be given to figures who valued and worked for social justice in their lives. Those that intentionally perpetuated white dominance (i.e. slaveholders, racist and /or anti-Indigenous views, etc.) will not be considered.
- Women who have made inspirational contributions during their lives should be given additional weight in recommendations to remedy the lack of representation among current school names.
- At least one school in Corvallis should have a name that honors the local Indigenous people chosen in consultation with the two local Tribes.
- At least one school in Corvallis should have a name that honors the community’s connection to place.
- View the Corvallis School Board Resolution 20-0801
Meetings are held virtually and are not open to the public but meeting notes and presentation materials are available to the public on the district website.