Tonight, the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) Board of Education approved new names for three district schools, marking the first school renamings since the Board adopted Lori Mann Carey Elementary School as the permanent name for the former Southside Elementary School in 2025.
Effective for the 2026–27 school year, Conrad A. Elvehjem Elementary School will be known as Ada Deer Elementary School, Charles Lindbergh Elementary School will be known as Jeffrey Clay Erlanger Elementary School and César Chávez Elementary School will be known as Roberto G. Sánchez Elementary School.
The new names were selected following months of work by volunteer Citizens’ Naming Committees established for each school. The committees reviewed community-submitted name suggestions, considered the history and identity of each school and its surrounding community, and developed finalists for consideration by the Board.
“This was a true collective effort, and we are deeply grateful to our neighbors, families, students, staff and school-based leaders for breathing life into this process,” Chelsey Tubbs, MMSD associate superintendent of elementary programming, said in a statement. “As these names become woven into the identity of our schools, we are proud to honor the extraordinary individuals, places and traditions they represent.. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the naming committees, whose dedicated care and vision provided the Board with deeply inspiring choices to shape our future.”
Ada Deer was a member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, a scholar and advocate for Native Americans. She served as the first Native American woman to head the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and was a UW-Madison alumna. She died in 2023.
Jeffrey Clay Erlanger was an advocate and activist for people with disabilities. As a child, he appeared on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” to discuss his experience as a wheelchair user. A Madison native, he graduated from Memorial High School and Edgewood College. He died in 2007.
Roberto G. Sánchez taught at UW-Madison from 1950 until his retirement in 1984. He was passionate about mentorship and educational opportunities for bilingual youth and first-generation students. In 1998, he created the Sánchez Scholars Program, a scholarship program established in partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District, UW-Madison and Madison College. He died in 2016.
The new names will take effect for the 2026–27 school year.
