Un-Canceled: SF School Board Formally Rescinds Move To Rename Schools After Lincoln, Washington, Feinstein

The San Francisco Board of Education has formally reversed its decision to rename more than forty public schools with names they deemed problematic or connected to racism and oppression, including schools named after George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, several months after their attempted rebranding initiative tossed them into the national spotlight. 

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the school board voted unanimously for a resolution to overturn the school renaming decision, which would have required a large-scale and potentially costly effort at the expense of taxpayers. The outcome of the vote was expected and was designed to avoid litigation from opponents of the policy who have alleged the board violated state law by not giving proper notification ahead of the vote. 

The school board’s resolution, however, vows to revisit the issue of renaming the so-called problematic schools once students have returned to classrooms full-time. It also accused those who filed the resolution of engaging in “nothing more than a transparent attempt to thwart a lawful and duly-noticed action with which it disagrees.”