FORT SMITH — Local community members will have an opportunity to weigh in on giving a new name to a school christened after a Confederate general.
Fort Smith School District Superintendent Doug Brubaker provided the Fort Smith School Board with an update during its meeting on Monday regarding the ongoing process to rename Albert Pike Elementary School at 4111 Park Ave.
A survey will be released today to provide some initial input from stakeholders to the board concerning a new name for the Albert Pike Elementary, according to an abstract included in the packet for Monday’s meeting.
The school district’s website and social media will have a link to the survey, which will also be sent to the families of all Albert Pike students and to staff members of the school. Members of the community can also call the school district office to request a paper form.
“And we think, just like with so many of our decisions, we like to let the data help drive decisions and recommendations, that that might, when the survey closes, give the board a sense of what process to adopt at that point,” Brubaker said.
The survey asks participants for the new name they are suggesting for Albert Pike Elementary and why they are suggesting it. It also asks participants to fill in boxes to indicate their connection with Albert Pike Elementary, the Fort Smith School District and/or the Fort Smith/Barling community, in addition to other questions.
School Board member Susan McFerran said she has heard from many people who believe that Park Elementary would be a good name for the school.
“I have agreed to that, but I said it’s going to be a community thing, and then when I saw what Dr. Brubaker and his staff have come up with, I think it’s a wonderful survey,” McFerran said. “I think not only does it cover the parents and the staff of Albert Pike, but it covers our entire community, that everyone will have a voice, and I just recommend that we try to make a decision next month.”
The board had unanimously approved a resolution expressing its intent to adopt a new name for Albert Pike Elementary for the 2021-22 school year on Aug. 24. The resolution directs the Fort Smith School District administration to organize a committee to develop and recommend a renaming process involving stakeholders from the school community.
“Documented activities and statements of General Pike as described in the attached resolution do not reflect the commitment of the school and the district as a whole to ‘treat all people with dignity and respect’ as articulated in the Vision 2023 Strategic Plan,” an abstract included in the packet for the board’s Aug. 10 meeting stated.
The resolution stated that Pike, a Confederate general, joined a petition in 1858 to “expel all free blacks from the State of Arkansas.” He also wrote in 1868 that “We mean that the white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall.”
Members of the Fort Smith district’s equity and minority recruitment committees discussed the name of Albert Pike Elementary School during a joint meeting July 31, according to the abstract. Their consensus was to recommend to the board that the school be renamed.