Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) has opened up its renaming process for Elvehjem and Lindbergh Elementary Schools to the public.
The district looks to rename two schools named after two historical figures with controversial stances. It looks for new names that are significant to Madison, MMSD, or nationally and have strong ties to Wisconsin. The process has been used previously to rename Southside Elementary to Lori Mann Carey and Thomas Jefferson Middle School to Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School.
“This process is an opportunity for our community to come together and reflect on the values we want our schools to represent,” said Dr. Carlettra Stanford, assistant superintendent of schools and learning. “Through thoughtful engagement, we can help ensure our school names reflect the experiences, aspirations and shared priorities of our students and families.”
Elvehjem is named after Conrad Elvehjem. He was a biochemist in nutrition born in McFarland who identified two vitamins, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, and its deficiency in humans, causing the disease pellagra, which used to be a much larger issue in the United States. Elvehjem was also president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Despite his achievements in Wisconsin, he also supported a 1931 racially restrictive covenant that prohibited Black people from owning homes in the Nakoma neighborhood on Madison’s West Side. As UW President, Elvehjem also restricted the Film Board of Madison from showing “To Find a Home,” an undercover film that illustrates racial discrimination in housing.
Those controversies led McFarland’s School Board to vote in favor of renaming the school in early 2025.
The other MMSD school set to be renamed currently honors Charles Lindbergh, a famous pilot from Detroit who was mostly raised in Little Falls, Minnesota and Washington D.C. He attended UW-Madison — which is his only overt connection to the city.
Lindbergh was noted as antisemitic and expressed sympathies for the Nazi Regime in Germany.
For renaming the schools, the district will have an ad hoc committee to review potential new names. Later public engagement opportunities for the community will also be held by MMSD on the renaming process before it is sent to the board of education, which makes the final decision.
Links for Elvehjem and Lindbergh are open until April 29 for renaming.
