Rescinding school names considered

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

When the scandal surrounding Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, reached a peak last fall and cost him his job at Las Vegas City Hall, some community members asked whether the Clark County School District would -- or should -- rename the school that bears his name.

But when the School Board began looking into the matter, they discovered no provision had been made in the district's regulations for rescinding a school's name because of unbecoming behavior by a namesake.

"This is new territory for us," said board member Sheila Moulton, a member of the district's school names committee.

The School Board will vote Thursday on proposed changes to the regulations that would allow the district to rescind the name of an educational facility when there are "extraordinary circumstances and after thorough study." A school name could be rescinded if the namesake is convicted of a felony, or a crime involving "moral turpitude and for which valid documentation exists."

A school name could also be rescinded if that person's name has become associated with "illegal, lewd, amoral or violent activity" that could reflect badly on students, staff or the district as a whole.

Williams, a longtime Las Vegas employee, was fired from his Las Vegas job last year after controversy over his time cards. A city investigation determined he had collected pay for that job while the state Legislature was meeting in Carson City. He also came under fire for running up high bills on his city-issued cellular phone.

Other public agencies have grappled with naming public property after living people. There were several unsuccessful attempts in the past to have Floyd Lamb State Park renamed because its namesake -- a state senator for 26 years -- was convicted in 1983 on federal charges of accepting bribes.

As a means of limiting the potential for these types of controversies, many school districts in other parts of the country allow schools to be named only after deceased, when they use the names of people.

Clark County education officials say they like having the flexibility to also honor the living. And many individuals take an active interest in their namesake schools -- Elaine Wynn, wife of casino owner Steve Wynn, is a regular visitor and contributor at the Edna Avenue elementary campus bearing her name.

School Board member Sheila Moulton said it has been months since she's heard from any member of the public asking that Wendell Williams Elementary School be renamed, but she still believes the district's policy needs to be revised.

"We need to have a mechanism in place for when these types of situations do come up," Moulton said.

When Madison Elementary School was torn down and rebuilt, Moulton voted against renaming the facility after the assemblyman.

"It had nothing to do with Mr. Williams personally and I would have supported naming a new school after him somewhere else," Moulton said. "I just thought we shouldn't rename schools. I still believe that."

Moulton said she is also reluctant to name schools after politicians who are still in office. There's time enough after someone returns to the private sector to honor them with a school, Moulton said.

School district regulations call for elementary and middle schools to be named after educators, pioneers or prominent citizens. Comprehensive high schools are named for the locality or region. An exception was made for the new Liberty High School in 2001 after students on the school naming committee argued the events of Sept. 11, 2001, should be commemorated in a positive and meaningful way.

At Thursday's meeting the School Board will also consider adding a provision that would allow district facilities to be named after former employees in extraordinary circumstances, such as "loss of life in the performance of service to benefit or support" the district.

The proposed revision comes after family and friends of Isaac Perez -- a 21-year-old custodian killed after being kidnapped at gunpoint from the elementary school where he worked -- campaigned unsuccessfully to have a school named for him.

At the time members of the naming committee said while they sympathized with his family, he did not meet the existing criteria for school namesakes.

The district has opened at least 10 new schools in each of the last four years and routinely has more than 200 names submitted for consideration, said School Board President Susan Brager-Wellman.

"Every person on that list is important to someone," Brager-Wellman said. "Even as much as we're building here, there's no way we could ever have enough schools to represent all of the individuals who do so much good for our community."

The situation with Perez -- like the queries about Williams -- alerted the board to a need for revision in the regulations, Brager-Wellman said.

Curtis Jones, who became principal of Wendell Williams Elementary School a year ago, said the assemblyman has stopped by the J Street campus several times. Williams rode with students on their Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade float and delivered the trophy when it won first prize, Jones said.

There have been a handful of passing comments from parents and other community members about the possibility of the school's name being changed, Jones said. But people seemed more concerned about the confusion it would cause than interested in a public reprimand of Williams, Jones said.

"The School Board makes the decisions about what name should go on the sign outside," Jones said. "My job is focus on the students inside."