Posted on 12/14/2005 11:59:21 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
The debate comes down to this: Was Stonewall-Flanders Elementary School named for the legendary Confederate general Stonewall Jackson or for stone fences that adorned front yards in the neighborhood?
Harlandale Independent School District trustees will consider the question as they decide whether to grant a former district administrator's request to rename the school after César Chávez, the late social activist.
"We don't have any historical evidence that it was, indeed, named for Stonewall Jackson," district spokesman David Ochoa said Monday, when the Board of Trustees heard the proposal.
Nick Calzoncit thinks otherwise, though he can provide no concrete evidence to support his theory.
He has gathered 367 verified signatures within the school's attendance boundaries. Under district policy, he needed 351 signatures, or half the school's total enrollment, before district officials would consider his proposal.
The board could vote or decide not to take action at its January meeting.
Calzoncit says Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a racist and the school should not bear his name.
"I evaluated all the schools in San Antonio that are named after racists and bigots," he said. "Stonewall stood out as the worst of all of the people."
Parent Monica Delgado said she has nothing against César Chávez, but the Stonewall name has been a part of the community for decades. The school opened in 1924.
"If they want to name a school after someone, it should be a new school, not an established school," she said.
Delgado said she tends to agree with an explanation offered by Felix Almaraz Jr., a history professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Almaraz said Stonewall Elementary was named for the street on which it was located. The street name, he said, reflected a local practice.
"Some residents gathered the stones that were on their properties, and they piled them up in front in a very neat configuration, and then they applied mortar and created stone fences," said Almaraz, who attended Stonewall Elementary in the 1940s.
At least three trustees criticized the proposal Monday. Trustee Tomas Uresti said he would not support the change. Trustees Doroteo Montelongo and Michael Tejeda defended the school's name.
Stonewall Elementary became Fenley-Flanders Elementary in 1996, after it merged with neighboring Flanders Elementary. The district decided the newly merged school should bear the name of Ray Fenley, a former administrator who died.
In 2003, when the district rebuilt Fenley-Flanders Elementary, community members pushed to name it after former school board member Edmundo Zaragosa. Another group of citizens wanted the Stonewall name restored to the school, and in the end, the board agreed to rename it Stonewall-Flanders Elementary.
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mmartinez@express-news.net
Jeez.... What are these people's problems. When Chavez died I did a 421 person poll of the folks that worked in the hospital where I was employed. 356= Prize Fighter, 47= Don't know, 11= Political/Race/Human Rights, 7= Actor/Entertainer/Musician.
Well, he's still lying about the "slave owner" part, and he's just stupid about the Chipultipec battle. Jackson was a young officer (not a commander at that time) in a war with Mexico. In wars with Mexico, Mexicans are the ones who get killed. If the war were with Canada, Canadians would have been killed. It's not like Santa Anna hadn't killed teenagers at the Alamo.
He felt that education had nothing to do with his farm worker/migrant way of life.
So let's name a school after him....NOT!
The League of United Latin-American Citizens is better known as LULAC. He doesn't seem to be concerned with the company he keeps.
I suppose in 50 years we can expect Ground Zero in NYC to be named "Mohammed Atta State Park" /sarcasm
In the nineteenth century, prior to the War of Federal Aggression, Virginia law prohibited whites from teaching blacks to read and write. Though Stonewall Jackson was known as an upstanding and law-abiding citizen in Lexington, he routinely broke this law every Sunday.
Though the law was not strictly enforced, Jackson quietly practiced civil disobedience by having an organized Sunday school class every Sunday afternoon, teaching black children to read, and teaching them the way of salvation. There are still churches active today that were founded by blacks reached with the Gospel through Jackson's efforts. Jackson taught the Sunday school class for blacks while he served as a deacon in Lexington’s Presbyterian Church. "In Jackson’s mind, slaves were children of God placed in subordinate situations for reasons only the Creator could explain. Helping them was a missionary effort for Jackson. Their souls had to be saved. Although Jackson could not alter the social status of slaves, he could and did display Christian decency to those whose lot it was to be in bondage…he was emphatically the black man’s friend." – Dr. James I. Robertson
..it won't take that long....you see what's happening to the Memorial now
Doogle>/p>
What an idiot - and note who's DISAGREEING with him - all Spanish surnames, and even THEY don't want "Cesar Chavez" elementary school! Typical lib, sure that he's only protecting the poor, ignorant minorities by protecting their heritage. Argh.
LULUAC League of United Latin Un-American Citizens
Could it be after Ricardo Sanchez?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Sanchez
Yup, you said it right!
You are right,liberals are so sure that "minorities" all think the same, THEIR way.
Yeah, and some RAT will claim it for Sheila "Don't you know who I am" Jackson-Lee.
Nope they would never have that much class.....it is named after a school board member that died from cancer.
That being said, Stonewall Jackson was from what is now West Virginia, while Cesar Chavez was from Delano, California. Why not name it after a great Tejano, like Juan Seguin?
Or, Jose Antonio Navarro, another Texas patriot.
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