Julie Cortez
El Hispanic News Writer
Portland, OR — Principal Antonio López unveiled the sign proclaiming his school’s new name Saturday — César Chávez School — with the help of students, community members, and Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith.
The former Clarendon-Portsmouth K-8 in North Portland now joins the former 39th Avenue in bearing the name of famed civil rights leader César E. Chávez.
The unveiling took place in conjunction with Project Community Care Day, one of two Saturdays in August during which members of the community volunteered to clean and fix up schools in the greater Portland area. The day of labor ended with a community appreciation barbeque at César Chávez School.
After the unveiling Smith said naming the school after Chávez was aimed at “inspiring students and making visible what they have accomplished.”
López concurred during a phone interview with El Hispanic News, calling the new name “an acknowledgement that we [Latinos] are part of the community.” He also insisted, however, that Chávez’s struggle for social justice, food safety, and safe pesticide use makes him a hero to more than the Latino community.
“His influence goes beyond racial and ethnic lines,” he said.
López told El Hispanic News that the renaming was a result of Smith’s decision, implemented three years ago, to switch to a K-8 model for Portland Public Schools. Portsmouth Middle School and Clarendon Elementary merged into Clarendon-Portsmouth K-8, and was the last of the newly reconfigured schools to get a new name.
López said a committee of parents, teachers, and community members was formed to facilitate the renaming. Postcard surveys were sent out to the entire Portsmouth neighborhood, and teachers and students were also surveyed for name ideas.
According to López, nearly 70 names fit the criteria for renaming, and were narrowed down to the four most common: Portsmouth, César Chávez, Willis, and Vanport. Surveys were once again sent out and López said the community overwhelmingly supported César Chávez, students were about evenly split between the Portsmouth and César Chávez, and the teachers predominately backed Portsmouth.
When all of the votes were tallied, César Chávez was the clear winner.
This process took place after 39th Ave. had already been renamed, and was spared the acrimony and controversy of that earlier renaming process.
“This was a community decision,” López said. He has heard very few negative grumbles, and when he has he puts those concerns to rest by explaining the open process for choosing the name.
Now that the renaming process is complete, López is focusing on the ongoing task of determining what his school should represent, what it means to the community, and how it will best serve its children and help them achieve success.
He’s also got a bit of educating to do about the man whose name is on the sign out front. The day López spoke to El Hispanic News on the phone, he was preparing a presentation to give to his returning teachers to teach them about who Chávez was so they will have answers when the students and parents ask questions about the school’s namesake, who is a source of personal inspiration for López.
“To be the first school in Portland to be named after a Latino leader, it is definitely a source of pride,” López said.
