MADISON, Wis. — The committee to rename Jefferson Middle School on Madison’s west side has put forth the final four proposed names for the school but did not rank the finalists as expected.
Committee members were expected to rank the finalists — Eston Hemings Jefferson, Sally Hemings, Ezekiel Gillespie and Maya Angelou — and present them to the Madison Metropolitan School District’s board, but instead, the committee alphabetized the finalists to let the board choose its favorite.
A series of meetings and public comment sessions will continue into the new year.
The push to rename the school began earlier this year in the wake of a successful campaign to change the name of nearby James Madison Memorial High School to Vel Phillips Memorial High School. Proponents of the Jefferson renaming plan have said it should be changed because the school’s namesake, former President Thomas Jefferson, owned slaves.
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