by MARK GABRISH CONLAN
Copyright © 2014 by Mark Gabrish Conlan for Zenger’s
Newsmagazine • All rights reserved
Christine Kehoe (file
photo)
Moises Aguirre
Nicole Murray Ramirez
Chris Ward
Kevin Beiser (file
photo)
Richard Barrera
Jackie Bacon McGlish
Karen Holtzman
Nicole Blazie
Bruce Abrams
A proposal to
rename Florence Elementary School, on First Avenue between University and Washington
in Hillcrest, after Christine Kehoe, the first openly Queer person to win
elective office in San Diego, ran into unexpected community opposition at a
meeting at the school Wednesday, October 8. Ironically, the meeting began with
a presentation by Moises Aguirre,
executive director of district relations for the San Diego Unified School
District (SDUSD), that described a broadly inclusive process for renaming a
public school — but that’s exactly what community members, including parents
with children at Florence Elementary as well as adults who volunteer there,
said wasn’t happening.
“We have a
process when we receive a request for changing the name of a school, and we
want to involve all the stakeholders,” Aguirre said at the beginning of the
meeting. “The first step is receiving a proposal, not necessarily in writing.
After that step, there are a number of stakeholder involvement steps, including
gauging the interest of the school staff and the community. There will be other
community meetings. We will need letters of support from the school principal
and staff.”
The proposal
originally came from a group calling itself the San Diego LGBT History Task
Force, though it’s being strongly pushed by SDUSD board member Kevin Beiser.
The presentation on behalf of the Task Force was made by city commissioner
Nicole Murray Ramirez, a long-time San Diego Queer activist who ironically
supported Kehoe’s straight opponent, Evonne Schulze, in Kehoe’s pioneering run
for the San Diego City Council in 1993. Ramirez identified himself, Beiser,
Chris Ward, Susan Jester and Lambda Archives of San Diego staff member Maureen
Steiner as the members of the Task Force, and gave the opening presentation on
its behalf.
Despite having
opposed Kehoe in her initial election bid, Ramirez said “I have worked with her
for years” and strongly supported the name change as a way of giving role
models to young Queer San Diegans just coming to grips with their sexual
identity. “When I was a child in the 1950’s and 1960’s no one on signs or
stamps was anything like me,” he said. “You can imagine my joy when things were
named for Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and
Harvey Milk. Once being a woman or a person of color meant being invisible, but
now we are recognizing diverse communities.” He called Kehoe “an historic San
Diego citizen who has helped make this America’s finest city.”
Ward added that,
though Kehoe’s reputation stems mainly from breaking the glass ceiling and
becoming the first openly Queer person elected to office in San Diego, she was
involved in other issues as well. “Many of you may not know Chris Kehoe’s
achievements in education,” he said. “She spearheaded the schools for trees
program and reached out to promote essay contests for local schools. She
sponsored the 6 to 6 program as both a City Councilmember and a State
Assemblymember. She was honored for her work in reducing class sizes and
getting schools to teach the basics.”
Though Beiser
and fellow SDUSD board member Richard Barrera were the only elected officials
there in person, a long string of political staff members came to the
microphone to read letters by their bosses supporting the name change. Jester
read a letter from San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer backing it. Evan Ballinger
represented San Diego County Supervisor Dave Roberts. Jessica Mayer spoke on
behalf of Congressmember Susan Davis.
Kehoe’s two
successors on the San Diego City Council, current Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins
and current City Council President Todd Gloria, both chimed in through their
staff members, Tori Dawn and Adriana Martinez, respectively. Gloria’s letter,
read by Martinez, called Kehoe “San Diego’s Harvey Milk.” Atkins was so eager
to express her support of renaming Florence after Kehoe, Atkins’ political mentor,
that she hadn’t completed the letter but had Dawn read her draft from a
smartphone.
Jen Morse,
president of the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA) — a group
representing businesses either owned by Queers or marketing primarily to Queer
customers — also supported the name change. Rebecca Holt, public policy
director of the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center,
read a letter from Center director Dr. Delores Jacobs backing it.
Representatives of DOD FED GLOBE, an organization aimed at safeguarding the
rights of Queer employees of the Department of Defense, and the Hillcrest
Business Association also supported the name change.
The impressive
list of supporters from both the public and private sectors left Florence Elementary’s
own community — school staff members, volunteers and parents of children who
attend it — feeling overwhelmed. Aguirre’s decision to call speakers
representing elected officials and business groups before he heard from any
parents or school volunteers just added insult to injury. They claimed that
instead of the inclusive process Aguirre’s opening remarks had promised,
supporters of the name change were blindsiding them and presenting it as a
virtual fait accompli without giving
them the hearing school district policy demands.
“I have been
part of the Florence community,” said Jackie Bacon McGlish. “I had students
here until 2013. My husband served on the school advisory committee. I’m a
lifelong Democrat, but I have concerns about the name change because it’s been
forced through without a plan to involve the volunteer community.” She compared
the way the “Christine Kehoe Elementary School” name was being pushed with the
recent long-term process to rename the school’s library after veteran educator
and school staff member Robert Vaughan. McGlish also argued that if the
district is going to name a school after Kehoe, it should be a middle or high
school instead of an elementary school because discussions of the two key
issues in which Kehoe was involved — Queer rights and the environment — would
be more appropriate in schools that serve older students.
“I live in the
neighborhood, I teach at UCSD, and my son goes to Florence,” said Karen
Holtzman. “I’m sure Chris Kehoe is a lovely woman and deserves honors, but this
process has not included community members at all. I hope the lip service being
paid to involving the community comes to fruition.”
“I have
volunteered at Florence Elementary for four years and lived on Dove Street [in
Mission Hills, six blocks from the school] for 10 years,” said Nicole Blazie.
“I apologize for not having a prepared speech because I didn’t know about this
meeting until 2 p.m. today, when a friend of mine e-mailed me a link. I would
feel a lot better if there had been an effort to involve the community.”
Blazie
particularly bristled at SDUSD board member Barrera’s suggestion that as part
of the name change, Florence adopt a new logo and replace its school mascot,
the Falcons, with “The Trailblazers.” “Florence is a low-income school,” she
said. “The kids wear uniforms and the kids cannot afford new T-shirts. You’re
going about this all wrong. If you want
the support of the community, you have to involve the community, get us on
board, acknowledge that this school is low-income and the parents need help.”
The ferocity of
the opposition from Florence’s parents and volunteers took supporters of the
name change aback. “I’m an uncle, I’ve had three kids and I’ve had to support
all these schools,” said community philanthropist and fundraiser Bruce Abrams.
“We as a community would love to help you support the school and support the
low income kids. I’ve known Chris Kehoe for 30 years, but it’s important that
you know we want to help.”
“I want to
apologize to the parents,” said Ramirez after he asked for — and got — special
permission to speak at the close of the meeting. “I’m very disturbed because we
were told you were involved and this was
the beginning of the process. I think it is being pushed on you, and I’m so glad the parents
have come forward. Our community and Task Force have been involved in Easter
egg hunts for 700 students. We provide school supplies and scholarships. Chris
Kehoe has met with your principal, and she had the same concerns. This process
has to stop because you’ve been disrespected, and we’ve heard that loud and
clear.”
“There’s still a
lot of conversation that needs to happen,” said Aguirre as he brought the
hour-long meeting to a close. “By no means is this the be-all and end-all of
this process. We need to reach out to parents and also school staff, including
classified [non-teaching] staff. We hear the community as a whole, and it is diverse. Hopefully as a community we can come
forward and support the process. It’s about how do we handle the communities
and build a real community.” He asked everyone in the audience who hadn’t put
their names and e-mail addresses on the sign-in sheets at the start of the
meeting to do so before they left “so we can keep in touch with all the stakeholders. That’s what we do in San Diego: we
work as a community.”
