School Disavows Racist Comments Of Honoree, Chooses New Name

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Pasadena's George Fox Middle School will get a new name, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education decided Wednesday. With a unanimous vote, board members disavowed the school's namesake, who openly opposed equal pay for Black teachers in a court case.

Fox was the superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools from 1916 to 1946.

School officials opened an inquiry into the school's name last July when protests against racial injustice swept the nation. A committee evaluated the pros and cons of renaming the building. The group ultimately recommended a switch at Wednesday's meeting, prompting the immediate board vote.

“To have students sit in a building named for a man who championed Jim Crow and segregationist policies and structures does not align with the AACPS core value of All Means All,” committee member Jamie Hurman-Cougnet told the board during the presentation.

Officials will now field recommendations for a new name. The school's principal will host a parent meeting and request write-in submissions. The principal will share the suggestions with the board, which must approve the final name.

Schools cannot be named after a living person or somebody who has been dead for less than three years.

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