4J to move ahead with César Chávez Elementary renaming process

The work to rename Eugene School District 4J’s César Chávez Elementary will soon begin.

District school board members voted unanimously at a June 17 meeting to start the process after Chief of Staff Carmen Xiomara Urbina presented survey findings that 67% of staff and families want the school to be renamed. 

A New York Times article published in March reported that Chávez sexually abused two young girls and raped activist Dolores Huertas. The news triggered complicated emotions in Eugene, where the school had been renamed in 2004 to honor Chávez’s pivotal role in immigrant and labor rights activism, a point of pride for the 4J Latino community.

Urbina said in the feedback, parents and staff expressed concern that the name did not reflect a safe environment for children. But they wanted to preserve the celebration of Latino heritage that Chávez’s name represented. 

So far, members of the school community have suggested broad ideas (which are not yet official recommendations). Some said they want to avoid individual names; others want to choose the name of an historic Latina leader. Still others want to name the school after local natural features or Indigenous places or names. The official renaming process does not yet have dates, but will include these steps:

• The district will create a renaming advisory committee.
• District administrators will present a plan to the board showing how they will collect feedback from the community.
• The public will have a chance to make nominations. 
• The district will reach out to students, staff, families, community members and tribal members for additional feedback. 
• District administrators will present findings and name recommendations to the board sometime during the 2026-27 school year. The board has final say over renaming a school.

“As we continue evaluating names, symbols and policies, we have an opportunity to create processes grounded in belonging, equity, community voices and respect,” Urbina said.

Because the school will not be renamed before school starts in the fall, board member Judy Newman asked how school leaders will refer to the school when students arrive in September. Urbina did not have an answer, but said she and other administrators will work with Chávez Principal Kevin Gordon to come up with a plan.

In other business at the meeting:

• Board members approved Bob Blyth, associate director of finance, as budget officer for the 2026-27 school year. Blyth was designated by the board as the budget officer for the remainder of the school year in the board’s May 13 meeting, replacing finance director Matt Brown, who had been appointed budget officer for the 2025-26 school year. Asked why Brown had been absent from recent meetings, 4J communications director Kelly McIver said Brown was out and that due to employee privacy, the district could not elaborate on absences. Brown did not immediately reply to an email from Lookout.

• District staff presented a plan to adjust the boundary for Howard Elementary School so 26 Howard students will now be assigned to either Adams Elementary or Chávez Elementary, schools that are closer to their homes. The district spoke with the parents of these children, Urbina said, and created a transition plan for the families. Families were also given the choice to stay at Howard, with the caveat that they would provide their own transportation.

• The board heard results of a survey about how students felt about a ban on personal electronic devices, which started districtwide in January. The survey, which included feedback from about 1,600 students, found that the majority of students saw the benefits of the ban and had little to no anxiety around it. Most student concern revolved around being able to use their phones during emergencies. The survey came with an asterisk, though: Most of the student respondents were middle schoolers, who already had a cellphone ban in place before the districtwide ban kicked in. Only 257 high schoolers responded.

• The board unanimously elected Ericka Thessen as board chair and Maya Rabasa as board vice chair for the 2026-27 school year. “It’s been fun,” said current Board Chair Tom Di Liberto, which won him laughs from board members. “It’s just not easy all the time.”