Maury Elementary Renaming Considered With T.C. Williams Process

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The renaming of Matthew Maury Elementary School in Alexandria will be considered by the school board alongside the process of renaming T.C. Williams High School. The school board voted Thursday to begin the process of considering the name change for Matthew Maury Elementary.

Matthew Maury Elementary, named for a Confederate commander, was originally not part of the renaming process because Alexandria School Board policy requires a petition with signatures from 100 Alexandria residents. The T.C. Williams High School renaming process was announced in July after a community petition. The high school is named for Thomas Chambliss Williams, the former Alexandria superintendent from the mid-1930s until 1963 who promoted the school division's resistance to desegregation efforts.

A petition for the elementary school's renaming was submitted to the school board on Aug. 6 after Alexandria City Public Schools announced it was reviewing the T.C. Williams High School name. Maury is described by ACPS as the "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" for his contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea. He was also part of the Confederate army and helped acquire a ship for the Confederacy.

"We are critically aware that there is a pressing need in our schools, our community and our nation to find ways to talk about race constructively and respectfully," said Superintendent Gregory Hutchings Jr. in a statement. "One of the ways that we can move forward is by acknowledging our own history, while refusing to allow that history to define who we currently are as a school division in the present."

A placeholder name is required as part of a renaming petition to the school board. The name Parker-Gray Rosemont School was submitted as a placeholder.

"While [the] name Parker-Gray Rosemont School is just a placeholder, it represents the significance of engaging both parts of our school community in this decision," the petition read.

The two school renamings will be considered together in a process going forward. Three community read-in sessions will be hosted by Georgetown professor Douglas Reed, whose book "Building the Federal Schoolhouse" looks at the history of public schools in Alexandria. The sessions will explore Alexandria's histories and how Alexandria's schools got their names.

These events will be part of a community engagement process with student forums, community forums and an additional family forum specifically for Matthew Maury Elementary families. A school board public hearing will be announced this fall, and a vote on whether to change the names of both schools could happen by December.

The read-in sessions and participation information is as follows:

• Read-In #1: T.C. Williams the Superintendent: Sept. 24, 6 p.m.-7 p.m. on Zoom
• Read-In #2: Alexandria’s Role in Massive Resistance and School Segregation: Oct. 1, 6 p.m.-7 p.m. on Zoom
• Read-In #3: The Real Story Behind: Remember the Titans: Oct. 8, 6 p.m.-7 p.m. on Zoom