Public Invited To Discuss Renaming John Witherspoon School Monday

PRINCETON, NJ — The public is invited to a hearing on Monday night where the Princeton Policy Committee of the Board of Education will discuss the possibility of renaming John Witherspoon Middle School.

The discussion of the JW name change is the second public meeting on this topic and will build on the July discussion.

The meeting will be held virtually through Zoom at 7 p.m. All are welcome to join. There will be an opportunity for members of the public to speak and community input is encouraged.

To join the discussion, here is the Zoom link.

Recently at the July 28 Board of Education meeting, Board member Debbie Bronfeld introduced a resolution to remove the name of John Witherspoon from the middle school as soon as possible. After much discussion from board members, it was decided it was too soon to take the name down without a proper replacement.

The resolution went up for a vote and failed with six board members voting it down, one abstaining and two voting for it including Bronfeld and Daniel Dart.

The board agreed further discussion was needed before a vote could be passed. Read More: Discussion To Continue On Renaming John Witherspoon School

The discussion was promoted after a Princeton High School graduate, Geoffrey Allen, created a petition to rename John Witherspoon Middle School. Read More: Princeton To Discuss Renaming John Witherspoon Middle School

"I feel like renaming the school will be the start of symbolic change and allow more efforts to change the school," said Allen, a 2019 graduate.

Allen's petition has just over 1,500 signatures.

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