Renaming of Pacoima School After Cesar Chavez Faces Community Ire

Occasionally shouting and interrupting, about 50 community members voiced their opposition Thursday afternoon to a proposal to rename Pacoima Elementary School after Cesar Chavez.

Staff and students at one of the oldest elementary schools in the San Fernando Valley recently voted to rename the school after the late civil rights activist. The new name would honor the labor leader, a hero to many Mexicans and Mexican Americans, and would inspire hope in a community plagued by poverty and violence, they said.

The school plans to submit the proposal to the Los Angeles Board of Education, possibly by summer’s end.

“This is a historical place,” said Mary Helen Ponce, who opposes the name change and has written a book about Pacoima, during the discussion on campus.

So far, at least 200 people have signed a petition against renaming the school, which opened in 1914. Many are alumni and lifelong residents of Pacoima.

“I’m very proud of the school, and I want to keep the name Pacoima Elementary,” said Elvira Orozco, a graduate of the school. “It means a lot to the community.”

Others were harsher in their opposition. “Cesar Chavez didn’t do a thing for me,” one man said. “He came too late for me. If we’re going to change the name, why not replace it with FDR or Washington?”

Pacoima Elementary teacher Sam Chaidez, who is leading the effort to rename the school, said Chavez inspired him and Chavez’s memory would probably encourage other boys and girls.

“Our kids today are lacking role models,” he said. “You plant the seed . . . “

Chaidez was interrupted by a chorus of boos.

One woman responded: “If you think renaming the school will change the violence, you’re a dreamer. You’re in gaga land.”

State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) and northeast Valley school board member David Tokofsky have said they are open to a name change but want it to have community support.