Alexandria, Virginia, education officials have posted semifinalists for the renaming of T.C. William High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School.
Community members have until Friday, Feb. 19, to back one of nine name proposals each for the schools, which the school board clerk and superintendent vetted from thousands of entries submitted by students, families and staff.
The top three for each will then be presented to school officials for consideration, with a final vote on the new names scheduled for April 8. The board unanimously backed a name change for the two schools last November.
Matthew Maury Elementary School was named after a Virginia oceanographer who served in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War. T.C. Williams’ namesake — former district superintendent Thomas Chambliss Williams — vocally resisted desegregation. T.C. Williams is the city’s only high school.
Polls are open on the school district’s website.
The semifinalists for T.C. Williams High School are:
- Alexandria High School
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg High School
- Chinquapin High School
- Blois Hundley High School
- Petey Jones High School
- King Street High School
- Parker-Gray High School
- Arnold J. Thurmond High School
- Titan Community High School
The semifinalists for Matthew Maury Elementary School are:
- Sarah Kemp Brady Elementary School
- Naomi Brooks Elementary School
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg Elementary School
- Katherine Johnson Elementary School
- John Lewis Elementary School
- Jean Reid Elementary School
- Rosemont Park Elementary School
- Russell Road Elementary School
- Harriet Tubman Elementary School