Waukegan middle school renamed for late Congressman John Lewis
Waukegan middle school renamed for late Congressman John Lewis
With the support of five of its seven board members, Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Waukegan will be renamed John Lewis Middle School, effective July 1st.
WAUKEGAN, Illinois - With the support of five of its seven board members, Thomas Jefferson Middle School in
Waukegan will be renamed John Lewis Middle School, effective July 1st.
The other major contending name under consideration at Tuesday s Waukegan School Board meeting was Barack and Michelle Obama Middle School, which had the support of two board members. Several members of the public spoke passionately at Tuesday night s board meeting in favor of the Obamas, but their voices failed to convince the board.
Another idea in contention for the school s name change was Barack and Michelle Obama Middle School, which had the backing of board members Anita Hanna and Jeff McBride.
Despite many members of the public speaking passionately during Tuesday night s board meeting in support of using the Obama name, Waukegan School Board President Brandon Ewing ultimately pushed back against the idea. I think [Obama] was a great president and he did things to move us forward, Ewing said, according to Fox 32. But just like we re having the discussion about Thomas Jefferson, all men are flawed and nobody s legacies are perfect. I think we have a responsibility to listen to all constituents and weigh that in whatever decision we make.
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As Ben Shapiro quipped, the revolution always eats its own. An effort by Waukegan’s school district to remove the name of Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson from its middle school ran into opposition two weeks ago when the names of Barack and Michelle Obama were offered as a replacement. That prompted outrage from the city’s Latino community, which argued that Obama’s policies on enforcing the law on the border and deporting illegals was itself racist. “Obama is another oppressor,” one activist declared, and others called Obama the “deporter in chief” in objecting to the proposal.