New school named after Chavez.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 3/12/04): Supporters of the name Cesar Chavez Elementary School chanted "Si se puede!" - "It can be done!" - at a Wednesday school board meeting. The word "puede" was misspelled in some editions of Thursday's front page.

In a suspenseful 4-3 vote that unleashed a deafening burst of applause, the Eugene School Board on Wednesday became the first board in Oregon to name a school for a Latino.

The new school next to Ida Patterson - until now dubbed "Southside" - will open in the fall as Cesar Chavez Elementary School, in honor of the Mexican American Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who led the struggle for migrant farm workers' rights.

The vote followed a feverish two-month lobbying effort that began with a suggestion from the Jefferson Middle School Latino youth club but quickly escalated.

More than 150 people packed the Education Center auditorium for Wednesday's meeting, many of them wearing red shirts and head scarves, the color of Chavez's United Farm Workers Union.

After prolonged cheering and a standing ovation for the board, members of the crowd hugged and wiped away joyful tears.

"What can I say? Si se puede!" 13-year-old Jefferson Middle School student Elizabeth Sampedro said giddily, evoking Chavez's motto, "It can be done."

In another 4-3 vote, the board chose to name the "Northside" school, being built next to Washington Elementary, after Bertha Holt, the beloved founder of a Eugene-based international adoption agency.

Like Cesar Chavez, the name drew broad and impassioned support at the board's public hearing last month.

But on Wednesday, the testimony was all about Cesar Chavez. Close to two-dozen people addressed the board, every one of them hoping to convince reluctant board members to act on their commitment to diversity.

Marion Malcolm, a local human rights activist, spoke of the board's goal to close the so-called achievement gap in the schools, but she said there's also an "affirmation" gap that needs attention.

"Feeling good about school and doing well in school are a lot easier if you feel like affirmation is a part of your education," she said.

Former KLCC radio host Alan Siporin called Chavez one of "the greatest people in history," ranking him alongside Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. He played a snippet of a tape from an interview he did with Chavez years ago.

Board members had been barraged with e-mails and phone calls since last week, following a work session at which four of the seven said they favored different names.

Three of those four didn't budge.

Tom Herrmann, Mike Fox and Craig Smith all said they preferred the name Blue Heron for Southside and Two Rivers for Northside, believing they would provide inspiration for young children and numerous educational opportunities.

Those names were on lists of five for each school forwarded to the board by two naming committees.

The fourth, Virginia Thompson, said she also still favored other names - Chinook for Southside, Two Rivers for Northside - but she voted with the majority.

Anette Spickard said the looming decision had kept her awake at night. But in the end, she decided Cesar Chavez was a perfect fit for the district's guiding principles.

She also said she couldn't bring herself to disappoint the young people who had poured so much energy into the effort.

"For all those reasons, I finally decided this is a no-brainer," she said.

Board Chairwoman Beth Gerot said Cesar Chavez is an important role model for the district's fast-growing Latino population.

"However, I believe there are lessons to be learned from his life for all children in our schools," she said.

After the vote, the crowd spilled outside into the parking lot, where they lit candles, sang and chanted "Si se puede!"

"I'm feeling very hopeful," said Jose Luis Alonso, a Eugene activist and educator. "Not just for Latino students but for the district in general. We've reached a point where there's going to be a renaissance."

Sonia Reyes, a Jefferson sixth-grader, said she felt proud of the role she and other students played.

"I think one day far away when all of us go to college, all the children in (the Latino youth club) are going to learn how we won, how we did it," she said.

CAPTION(S):

Jose Rosales, a University of Oregon student, celebrates the naming of the new Cesar Chavez Elementary School during a Eugene School Board meeting Wednesday night.