Latino advocates hope school will get labor leader's name.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Now that Eugene has a boulevard named for one of America's greatest black leaders, isn't it past time to also have a school bearing the name of a great Latino leader?

A coalition of Latino advocates believes that the answer is yes, and is drumming up support in favor of naming one of two new elementary schools in honor of Cesar Chavez, the labor union organizer who promoted nonviolence and led successful boycotts in support of migrant farmworkers in the 1970s.

Cesar Chavez is one of five names under consideration for the school under construction next to Ida Patterson Elementary School on the city's south side. The Eugene School Board will hear from the public at a session Wednesday before making a naming decision in March.

Jim Garcia, diversity coordinator at Lane Community College, said he's never seen local Latinos so energized around an issue. He said between 35 and 40 people have attended meetings of Educacion y Justicia para la Raza (Education and Justice for Our Community), a loose-knit group of Latino advocates pushing the Chavez idea.

The momentum, he said, is the explosive growth of Latinos in Eugene and the widely held perception among Latinos that the public schools have failed to adequately respond to the needs of Latino and Spanish-speaking students.

The district has a golden opportunity to teach and affirm cultural diversity, he and other supporters said.

"People are missing the point if they think this is a Latino issue," said Garcia, a 25-year resident of the area. "This is an American issue, unless we're coming from the perspective that only whites are Americans. This is a way to say that brown Americans are Americans, too."

The fact that the city last year renamed Centennial Boulevard in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is also a factor.

"That was a powerful statement acknowledging that African-Americans are here and a part of our community," said Jose Luis Alonso, a Eugene educator and community activist. "I believe the same holds true by naming a school after such a wonderful American hero and leader as Cesar Chavez."

A citizen committee charged with considering names for the south-side elementary school didn't add Cesar Chavez to the list until after numerous supporters - including students in Jefferson Middle School's Latino youth club - spoke in favor at a meeting last month.

In forwarding the finalist names, the committee said Cesar Chavez wasn't among its choices but felt it should be included for school board consideration because of the "extremely strong and passionate support" it received.

The failure to initially consider Chavez in the final names - and a guideline suggesting that the committee choose a name that's easy to pronounce - raised red flags among some Latino leaders. "Criteria like that already suggests a bias," Garcia said. District spokesman Kelly McIver, who helped guide the naming committee process, said that criterion isn't aimed at names requiring a culturally preferred way of pronunciation.

School board Chairwoman Beth Gerot said Wednesday that she has had little time to consider the finalist names.

Beyond the testimony presented to the committee, support for the Chavez name is unclear. Principals at the elementary schools that will feed into the new school have said that "Blue Heron" appears to be the favorite among their students. In one third-grade class at Westmoreland Elementary, Blue Heron won in a landslide with nary a vote for Chavez.

The other three names are "Chinook," "Discovery" and "Rosa Parks" - the latter in honor of the black woman who helped spearhead the civil rights movement when she refused to take a seat in the back of a public transit bus. Committee members said they liked the Rosa Parks name in part because, after the closure of Patterson, no school in the district will be named for a woman.

Marilyn Mays, president of the Eugene-Springfield chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she supports naming the elementary school in honor of Chavez - even over the name of Parks.

"Why does it have to be an either-or?" she said. "A lot of things are being built in our community right now.

"The renaming of Centennial for Dr. King was not primarily for African-Americans, that was for the entire community, and I feel the same way about Cesar Chavez and this nomination," she said. "It really comes down to priorities about inclusiveness."

WHAT'S NEXT

Wednesday: Eugene School Board will hear from the public at 7 p.m., Education Center, 200 N. Monroe St.

March 10: Board may vote on names for both new elementary schools

CAPTION(S):

Cesar Chavez signs autographs for admirers and youngsters in a 1991 visit to the University of Oregon. One of two new schools could bear his name if a committee agrees with advocates.