York County School Board moves forward with plan to survey residents on Magruder Elementary name change

YORK COUNTY – The York County School Board has agreed to move ahead with the launch of a community survey to gauge sentiment surrounding the potential renaming of Magruder Elementary School.

During the end-of-year work session on June 2, Board Chair Kimberly Goodwin said the survey would serve as “another frame of information for us to use” as part of the decision-making process regarding the school’s name.

The survey will be administered via an online platform the school system already uses, so there will be no extra costs involved. Each community member who participates will only be able to submit feedback one time, Goodwin said.

All York County residents, as well as school division staff and teachers, will have the opportunity to weigh in.

According to Superintendent Victor Shandor, the survey will be open for a period of 7 to 10 days and will be launched before the end of the current school year.

The board is considering renaming the school division following a request submitted by Williamsburg resident Mary Lassiter, a member of the grassroots Campaign for Honorable and Inclusive School Names.

A report compiled by school officials determined Magruder Elementary was “named for Fort Magruder or the village of Magruder that was displaced by Camp Peary.” However, the area was “almost certainly” named for John Magruder, a Confederate soldier who burned the City of Hampton, the research showed.

The school division therefore concluded that the elementary school “is indirectly named after John B. Magruder.”

According to a school division policy adopted in 2012, the board “may rename a school facility upon a determination that it’s appropriate to do so.” No school will be permitted to be named after a person, whether living or deceased.