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A day before ballots went out to the Jefferson Elementary community to decide the fate of the school name, parents and teachers met at the West Berkeley school to discuss the controversial issue. 

Jefferson voters will have until May 26 to decide whether the school will continue to be named after the author of the Declaration of Independence or if the name will be changed to Sequoia. 

The name change has been proposed by Jefferson parents and teachers who believe that the former president’s connection to slavery—he owned slaves on his 18th century Virginia plantation—should disqualify him for honor in Berkeley. Those who support keeping the Jefferson name have said that while his participation in slavery should not be overlooked, it should not overshadow Jefferson’s accomplishments in laying down the foundation of American democracy. 

On Tuesday night, some 60 participants broke into small groups to debate the issue among themselves. The meeting was sponsored by the school’s oversight committee, and was facilitated by Carol Johnson of the Berkeley-based Equity Consulting Group. Two school board officers participated—President Nancy Riddle and Vice President Terry Doran—but the remainder of participants appeared to be people directly connected with the school. 

Jefferson Principal Betty Delaney said that the meeting “was designed to bring together divergent points of view.” 

It did, but with a volume of rhetoric distinctly lower than what has recently been playing out in letters-to-the-editor columns. 

In one of the groups, one man argued that “we should leave the name as it is, and then continue to have these types of discussions on race and the legacy of slavery. If we change the name to Sequoia, those discussions will end. America was founded on controversy. That’s how democracy advances, through controversy, and these types of discussions and struggles.” 

But a woman in the same group countered, “I don’t trust that the discussion will continue or that my point in the discussion will be heard. We don’t discuss slavery or race in our history books now, not really.” 

She also argued that “if the name remains Jefferson, people will not look on him as a controversial figure. They will see that as a confirmation that we see him as a hero. We don’t name schools after people we don’t respect. We don’t name schools after Hitler.” 

Several people commented that they wished that something like Tuesday night’s dialogue had been organized when the name-change controversy was first raised. 

“I think we would have had more information, and it would have set a better tone for the debate,” one woman said. 

The meeting began with presentations by representatives of the two opposing sides. 

Margeurite Talley-Hughes, a Jefferson Elementary teacher, said that Jefferson’s participation in slavery could not be explained away “because that’s what was happening during those times. George Washington refused to buy or sell slaves during his lifetime, and unlike Jefferson, upon his death, his slaves were freed. John Adams did not own slaves. Benjamin Franklin freed the few slaves that were in his possession, and then became president of the Philadelphia Abolition Society.” 

Talley-Hughes also read passages from Jefferson’s 1782 “Notes On Virginia,” in which he argued for the general inferiority of African-Americans in all things intellectual, also complaining of their alleged “disagreeable odor.” 

Supporters of the Jefferson name chose not to make a presentation themselves, but instead had UC Berkeley history professor Robin Einhorn make their case. 

But Einhorn appeared uncomfortable in the role, saying that “I’m not really here as a partisan” and “I’m not here to defend retaining his name.” 

Instead, Einhorn said she was speaking as a historian raising questions that the Jefferson Elementary community would have to answer for themselves.  

“The name Jefferson is shorthand to us for the sentiments expressed in the Declaration of Independence,” she said. “The question is, does it dishonor that sentiment to get rid of his name on the school? The historian’s view is that slavery is at the essence of America at its founding, and it is accurate to portray Jefferson as central to that essence. But saying that this portrayal of Jefferson is accurate does not necessarily mean that we should celebrate it.”