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San Bernardino school board asks staff to design student-centered process to rename Middle School 318
Summary
After hours of public comment both for and against naming Middle School 318 for community advocate Gil Navaro, the board directed the superintendent to develop a renaming process that centers site students and a naming committee while reminding members that policy requires unanimous approval for any renaming.
The San Bernardino City Unified School District board on Tuesday directed staff to develop a community-driven process for naming Middle School 318, formerly Cesar Chavez Middle School, after a night of lengthy testimony that split the audience.
The move came after multiple residents, former students and advocates urged the board either to rename the campus for local advocate Gil Navaro or to avoid naming it for a person. A group of speakers recounted Navaro's mentoring and community work and asked the board to honor him. At the same time, current and former staff said the district should consider neutral, place-based names to avoid future controversy.
Superintendent Mauricio Araniano reviewed board policy and reminded trustees that "buildings and facilities on a school campus shall not be designated by individual name except by unanimous approval of the board." He and President Myra Seayos said the policy requires careful, public work before the board will act.
Board members converged around a multi-step process: the site should be the primary voice, students at the campus should be able to participate in proposing or voting on names, and a naming committee (the district policy contemplates no fewer than five members) would facilitate and narrow community submissions for the board to consider. Several trustees urged that the committee's work be supervised by district staff and that any final recommendation come to the full board for a vote.
Trustee Danny Tilman framed the approach as restorative for students impacted by the name removal: "The worst mistake we can make would be to have someone from the outside give them a name and... the people at the site think, why are we called this?" He urged that site students lead the selection. Trustee Abigail Rosales Medina and others said the board must respect both community sentiment and the board policy's unanimous-approval requirement.
The board asked the superintendent to return in the Friday update with a proposed facilitation plan and timeline. The superintendent said cabinet would consult the principal and site leadership, propose options for student participation (including district tools to gather wide input), and recommend a naming committee structure for board approval.
Next steps: staff will draft the process and public communications; the board will review the recommended committee membership and a narrowed list of suggested names before any final vote.
