In the Sausalito Marin City School District, the 2021-22 school year has been one of bringing communities together, committed to providing every youngster with the best possible education and school experience.
When considering renaming its campuses as part of unifying two schools, deciding to retain the name of Martin Luther King Jr. is the right fit at the right time – an appropriate inspiration for years to come.
The district’s two campuses will share the same name, brought together after years of being two different schools, a charter school in Sausalito and the district’s campus in Marin City. They are also being brought together in keeping with an agreement with the state attorney general whose investigation concluded that racial segregation was diminishing the educational opportunities offered at the mostly Black and much smaller Marin City campus, the Bayside-Martin Luther King Jr. Academy.
In short, the state found that the two schools were separate and unequal. It was the state’s first desegregation order in 50 years.
The community has responded.
The solution has been to dissolve the longstanding charter school and unify the two schools into a new K-8 program, across two campuses.
Bringing the campuses together and correcting the segregation and unequal educational opportunities that were allowed to fester is long overdue. And retaining the name of King, our nation’s foremost voice for civil rights and racial equality, is the best fit.
It certainly fits King’s words from his historic 1963 speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.:
“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
A special advisory committee had spent several months reaching out to the community to come up with a name for the unified school.
In the end, it decided to retain his name, calling it Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy. For years, the middle school program at the Marin City campus has been named for King.
The committee, with the approval of the school board, decided to add “Dr.,” to the title to underscore the school’s commitment to academic achievement.
Chavon White, a member of the advisory board, said, “We think this name embodies the spirit of hope and integration. We wanted to honor the past as well as look toward the future.”
As King said in his historic speech: “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
Having King’s name before us 365 days a year serves as a constant – and still necessary – reminder that our nation’s promise of unity and equality can only endure by making them an uncompromised priority in our lives, governance and, most important, in our public schools and the education of our children.
It is a great name that captures a great goal.
