ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997 TAG: 9704110083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES
The lack of discussion stunned the County-wide League, whose members vowed the issue is ``far from being over.''
Botetourt's County-wide League was promised action by the School Board on its request to rename William Clark Middle School after its pre-integration predecessor, and Thursday night, they got it.
But they didn't like it.
Without discussion or fanfare, board member Barrie Bunn made a motion to reaffirm the board's decision to name the middle school after one half of the Lewis and Clark exploring duo. The motion passed 4-0, with James Ruhland abstaining.
"This is far from being over," vowed league President Curtis Brown after the meeting.
Brown had been somewhat hopeful about the vote.
"We didn't expect a flat refusal," he said. "We thought there would at least be some discussion."
He said league members would continue to attend every School Board meeting just as they have done since October, when they first approached the board about changing the name.
Next month, Brown said, he will give the board petitions the league has been circulating for six months. He said the group has collected about 500 signatures of people who support returning the school's original name.
The middle school once was the county's last all-black school, Central Academy. After integration, it became Botetourt Intermediate School.
In 1995, as the school system was preparing to convert to a middle school system and open a second middle school, the board held a contest to solicit names for the old Botetourt Intermediate.
Central Academy was submitted by one man, but more votes came in for William Clark, School Board members have explained. The explorer's only tie to the county is that he married a Fincastle woman upon his return from exploring the American West.
The County-wide League, which existed several decades ago as a black educational watchdog group, regrouped to take on the battle of getting the school's name changed again.
The School Board appointed a committee to study the matter, but none of the suggestions it came up with satisfied league members. They included renaming the athletic field or placing a commemorative plaque in the school.
Brown said the name Central Academy is an important part of Botetourt history, too. The school name is not a matter of race, he said.
"If that school was named Booker T. Washington, we'd still want it changed to Central Academy," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB