Effort to name Burlingame school after Ruth Bader Ginsburg stalls

Sari McConnell, a district parent and former president of the Burlingame Community Education Foundation, petitioned for the district to rename Burlingame Intermediate School after the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, McConnell argued that Ginsburg’s career fighting for gender equity before being named to the Supreme Court was reason enough to honor her, making her a perfect candidate for replacing the name of the middle school. 

“Her legacy mirrors the core values of our public school district that has been grounded in equitable access for all our students to an excellent education,” McConnell said. “Let’s make Ruth Bader Ginsburg our institutions and our legacy so boys and girls both know that anyone can grow up to be someone worth living on the front of a school building.”

Community support for RBG

Cora Haggarty, a district alumna in support of renaming the campus after Ginsburg, echoed McConnell by noting Ginsburg’s legacy of legal success amid a male-dominated field would send a strong message to students. 

She also pointed out that all of the district’s campuses aside from the middle school are named after former presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. 

“Representation matters and it’s time we show it,” Haggarty said. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazer and our district should celebrate her life. … It’s about time our schools represent the communities they serve and it’s about time we follow in her footsteps.”  

A petition of more than 1,600 people was presented to the board as an indication of community support for naming the building after Ginsburg. Of those who signed the petition, about a third identified as Burlingame residents with many claiming to be affiliated with the school district in some capacity. 

The remaining supporters included county residents and people living across the state and country but McConnell said some are likely family members of local residents though it could be “hard to pin down.” 

McConnell said she would have pushed harder to gather greater local support but opted not to, given that the district and its staff have been grappling with educating students during the pandemic. 

In response to comments from the board, asserting they hadn’t received much communication from the public on the matter, McConnell said she advised supporters to not flood trustee inboxes after speaking with Superintendent Chris Mount-Benites. 

Process vs. pressure 

Instead, McConnell said Mount-Benites informed her that the petition and a few community representatives would suffice in a presentation to the board. But Mount-Benites said he advised McConnell to follow the proper process, adding that flooding trustee inboxes would have been an “inappropriate” “pressure tactic.” 

Mount-Benites said the district would also have to establish a process to ensure there was community buy-in for the idea which could lead to even more complex conversations around other potential figures who should be honored instead. McConnell noted that through her outreach some have mentioned Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice who has roots in the county, and the first female vice president, Kamala Harris. 

Given that the district is short staffed with only 12 administrators, nine of whom are placed at school sites, Mount-Benites said that trustees would need to lead the outreach process with assistance from community volunteers because district staff would not be able to take on the additional workload. 

“If there’s going to be a process there has to be a process of, by and for the community and the board,” Mount-Benites said. “I don’t want a distraction that’s going to take from the basics and basically we’re staffed to just take care of the basics.” 

Trustees and McConnell also shared concerns for burdening district staff but while McConnell offered her time to help raise funds for the project — a figure for how much the name change would cost is still unknown — trustees said they were also too busy to immediately take on the matter.  

Renaming chaos 

Mount-Benites said he was also not open to undergoing a process of renaming the campus if it risked mirroring discussions held at the San Francisco Unified School District on the same issue. Their process spanned about two years and led to substantial community pushback that has ultimately stalled the renaming process and, in part, led to recall campaigns of multiple trustees. 

“I’m not willing to engage in another distraction after two years of a pandemic that is going to further distract us when we’re already juggling enough balls and still trying to get education moved forward,” Mount-Benites said. 

If the board was to start the process of renaming the middle school, he said the district would run the risk of diving into a deeper conversion on the names of the other campuses, noting that each of the men whose names decorate the buildings can be seen as problematic. 

The current policy permits facilities to be named after people, living or dead, who have made significant contributions to the nation or world but does not specify the process for naming or renaming a facility other than requiring a public hearing to be held.  

Trustees shared Mount-Benites’ concerns with Wong suggesting the district stop the practice of naming buildings after people altogether. Alternatively, Trustee Deepak Sarpangal said he saw the value of placing a woman’s name on the structure but said the issue sparked a conversion worth deeper investigation that needed to be balanced with other urgent needs. 

As a potential compromise, trustees also suggested that Ginsburg’s name could be placed on a different district facility such as an auditorium. But McConnell argued that the gesture would be an ironic example of how women are undervalued and underappreciated by being honored in less impactful ways for their work.

Given that the board policy hasn’t been reviewed in nearly a decade, trustees decided to postpone the conversion around renaming Burlingame Intermediate School as it does the preliminary work of updating its policy on renaming district facilities. 

“It’s a little spirit crushing when at the moment when you have the ability to balance the scales and put a woman on the building, that’s when you decide to change the policy,” McConnell responded. “It’s time for a woman on the building. That’s it.” 

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

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