New potential names for Lindbergh and Elvehjem Elementary have been revealed as Madison Metro School District after community members cast their ideas for the renaming.
Both are planned to be renamed due to their namesakes’ controversial history. The district opened up suggestions for the renaming of the two schools earlier this year. Community members had the chance to nominate names of people who had a significant impact in either Madison or Wisconsin’s history. As MMSD looks at the next steps before renaming the two schools, 32 — with three shared — different potential names across both Elvehjem and Lindbergh will be considered.
“We are immensely grateful to our Citizens’ Naming Committee members and chairs, the Elvehjem and Lindbergh school communities, and the Board of Education for their exceptional leadership in this endeavor,” said Chelsey Tubbs, MMSD associate superintendent of educational programming. “We warmly invite our students, families, staff and neighbors to join the livestreams or submit written statements and further their involvement in this process. Their perspectives are vital as we take this meaningful step forward together.”
Lindbergh Elementary School is named after the famous pilot from Detroit, Charles Lindbergh, who held antisemitic beliefs and expressed sympathies for Germany’s Nazi Regime. A total of 21 different suggestions have been accepted as new potential names.
A few standouts include Clyde Stubblefield, Gaylord Nelson, Alfred M. Gorham, Darlene Hancock and Song Kue.
Stubblefield is a suggestion based on the famous drummer who called Madison his home for the last chapter of his life. Nelson honors the former Wisconsin governor who founded Earth Day in 1970. Gorham respects Waukesha-born pilot and Wisconsin’s only Tuskegee Airman.
Hancock is a pioneering educator who became MSMD’s first African American female principal at Glenn Stephens Elementary. Kue was nominated by her family. Song Kue is a Vietnam War refugee and UW-Madison’s first Hmong graduate.
All other names can be found on MMSD’s district website.
Elvehjem is named after Conrad Elvehjem who, while was an accomplished biochemist and leader of University of Wisconsin-Madison, supported racial covenants to prevent Black residents from owning homes on Madison’s West Side.
The school has 10 potential names. Standouts include Freddie Mae, Lucia Nuñez and Stepahnie A. Bernard.
Mae is notably a figure in Madison during the Civil Rights Movement as she fought against housing and employment discrimination on the Eastside. Nuñez was a Latina champion of civil rights in Madison and served as the director of the City of Madison’s Department of Civil Rights.
Bernard is named after a long-time, beloved educator at MMSD who served in the district for 38 years. She is known for fighting for equity in education.
The full list can be seen online.
Three options are shared between the two schools as potential names. Ada Deer, Gaylord Nelson and Jeffery Clay Erlander.
Next steps in the process will be hearings by MMSD’s school board. Community members are invited to join to provide feedback to help narrow down the list to four recommendations. The final choice will be made by the school board.
Meetings will be held virtually on July 23. The hearing for Elvehjem will be from 6-7 p.m.; Lindbergh will be 7:30-8:30 p.m. The meetings will be streamed on the school board’s YouTube page.
