A school district in El Sobrante has unanimously voted to rename one of their middle schools after the iconic Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest National Park ranger serving in the U.S.
West Contra Costa Unified School District elected Juan Crespi Middle School to become Betty Reid Soskin Middle School on Wednesday.
This decision holds major weight, signifying the acknowledgment of Juan Crespi’s impact on indigenous people as an 18th-century Spanish missionary, and celebrating the 99-year-old Soskin who is an activist and a longtime ranger at Richmond's Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park.
"I am a firm believer in giving people their flowers while they are still here to smell them," Principal Guthrie Fleischman said in an interview with KTVU. "There are so few schools named after women and fewer named after women of color and even fewer named after Black women."
Amid nationwide debates over critical race theory and conversations on how to implement the history of racism in America into the current curriculum, the school district made it a priority to become "an agent of change."
"Naming a middle school Betty Reid Soskin is creating conditions for positive change," Trustee Jamela Smith-Folds said. "We are actively moving away from the harmful history of Juan Crespi and toward the inspiring life of Ms. Soskin."
Related
