[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, generally not a wise idea to name something after someone who is still alive...although in the Early Republic lots of towns and counties were named for heroes of the Revolution (Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Rogers Clark, Henry Knox, and many others). More recently, Cincinnati named a street after Pete Rose (before his disgrace)--not smart.

I wonder what some of the unsuccessful suggestions for renaming this school were...Che Guevara? Pol Pot? Karl Marx? Nat Turner? Trayvon Martin?

If a school which has a 95% black student body needs to be named after a black person, there are lots of more suitable people who could have been chosen. Arthur Ashe? Frederick Douglass? Jackie Robinson? Thurgood Marshall? Ralph Bunche?

[x]

... there are lots of more suitable people who could have been chosen.

That's always the case.

Why do we have a hundred schools named after John F. Kennedy?

Because the people who decide these things (and the rest of the public) can only keep a few names in their heads.