Does Southeast Raleigh have too negative a connotation to use it in a school name?

An innovative new Wake County school that will include a YMCA facility may not be called Southeast Raleigh Elementary due to concern that the name could stigmatize the school.

The Wake County school board had been set earlier this month to adopt Southeast Raleigh Elementary as the name of a new school on Rock Quarry Road in Raleigh. The school, set to open in 2019, is part of a project designed to help revitalize Southeast Raleigh, a predominantly African-American and low-income community.

But the school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday to name the school Beacon Promise Elementary.

The name switch comes at the request of school board member Keith Sutton, whose district represents Southeast Raleigh. Sutton said some in the community are worried about the “possible stigmatization” of the school if it were to bear the “Southeast Raleigh nomenclature.”

“I personally don’t necessarily see the negative connotation, but in listening to some folks and having the conversations, there are some that feel that way and that will hinder the potential of the school,” Sutton said at last week’s school board facilities committee meeting. “I’m trying to be as representative and as sensitive as possible to both sides of what I’m hearing.”

The new name is getting the backing of the community group quarterbacking the project.

“The Beacon Promise Elementary name certainly presents the imagery that you want to open the school with and that we want to sustain through the life of the school and this overall initiative,” said Kia Baker, executive director of Southeast Raleigh Promise, the community group formed to oversee the project.

“Like Keith, I don’t have personally any objection or feeling that there is a sense of negativity around Southeast Raleigh. I’m a proud native of Southeast Raleigh.”

Some of the reasons now given for not using Southeast Raleigh in the school’s name are identical to the reasons used previously to justify its inclusion.

School and YMCA of the Triangle leaders hope the joint project will be so successful that people will think more positively about Southeast Raleigh. Test scores of students who live in the community are well below the district average.

The school/YMCA is part of a complex at the former Watson’s Flea Market that will include more than 70 units of affordable housing and space that could include a health care facility and a grocery store. The new school is at 1436 Rock Quarry Road near Interstate 40, about one mile from Southeast Raleigh High School.

The new school will target the six U.S. census tracts in Southeast Raleigh with the highest needs as part of an effort to improve educational outcomes.

“By calling it Southeast Raleigh, they are hoping to have that be an opportunity to reframe what that means to the community with what they’re planning to do with the school site,” Deputy Superintendent Cathy Moore said at the November facilities committee meeting.

The new school will offer features that are different from other Wake elementary schools, including a full YMCA with a swimming pool, a rooftop garden, community kitchen and more pre-K classrooms than normal. Students will get swimming lessons and daily physical education.

The new school may offer a longer-than-normal school day and a longer school year. Students could also get a full range of social services to help them and their families.

The school board’s facilities committee voted in November to recommend Southeast Raleigh Elementary as the school’s name over four other choices, including Beacon Elementary. But Sutton wasn’t at that meeting.

At Sutton’s request, the vote on the school’s name was removed from the Dec. 5 board meeting agenda and sent back to the facilities committee.

The official reason for turning to Beacon Promise as the school’s name is that the road that will run through the property was recently named Promise Beacon Way by the city of Raleigh. The project has also been called the “Beacon Project” by organizers due to all it’s supposed to accomplish.

Board members deferred to Sutton with the facilities committee voting last week to recommend using Beacon Promise Elementary as the name.

“I just want the community to be proud of that school and whatever we need to do to have them be proud of it as a starting point then we need to call it,” said school board member Kathy Hartenstine. “Beacon Promise Elementary, that’s a great name.”

But Baker of Southeast Raleigh Promise said they won’t forget the main job of the school.

“The name of a school is very important,” Baker said. “It sends an important message. But what’s most important is what we do in the school.“

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Does Southeast Raleigh have too negative a connotation to use it in a school name?."