Harford County To Rename 2 Schools That Honor Slave Owners

BEL AIR, MD — Two schools in Harford County will be renamed, since they were named for people who owned slaves.

Superintendent Sean Bulson proposed at Monday night's Harford County Board of Education meeting that William Paca/Old Post Road Elementary School and John Archer School be renamed.

"The Superintendent and HCPS staff believe that maintaining the name of an owner of enslaved persons as the name of a school is inconsistent with the educational mission of HCPS," officials said.

The mission of the school system is to create a "safe and caring environment that honors the diversity of our students and staff," the superintendent said in a statement.

William Paca was built in 1974 and was named for the federal judge and former Maryland governor who signed the Declaration of Independence, school officials said. He was born near Abingdon and died in 1799. During his lifetime, he "was an owner of enslaved persons," officials said.

A petition with more than 1,500 signatures was submitted to the school board in June 2020 calling for the name change, according to the statement.

Some members of the John Archer School said they learned of the name change proposal Monday morning when they saw the agenda posted by the Harford County Board of Education.

John Archer was born in 1741 and served as a doctor in Harford County as well as in the Revolutionary War and in several government positions, officials said. "During his lifetime, Dr. John Archer was an owner of enslaved persons,” Harford County Public Schools reported.

“Changing the names of these schools as soon as possible is the right thing to do," Harford County NAACP President Vicki Jones said at Monday's school board meeting.

"Imagine you were Jewish and you were told, 'Not a problem' or 'No big deal' if you go to a school named after Adolf Hitler. Sounds absurd, doesn't it?" Jones said. "So why would we want to put that label on Black and brown children who attend William Paca or John Archer, who by the way, enslaved 117 Black people. These men weren't noble. There's nothing noble about making money from free labor that made it possible for the descendants of these men to have a legacy of generational wealth in Harford County."

She said the name change would signal Harford County doing the right thing.

“I hope that by raising awareness and demanding change, we shine a light on how embedded racism is in communities across the country, including ours," Jones said.

The student member of the school board said the reference to Hitler was "quite compelling," speaking in support of the name change.

"Keeping those names is harmful to students of color," student board member Kanae Holcomb said. "I'm not suggesting that they be moved removed from history at all. We learn nothing from that, and we can take this as a learning opportunity for our entire community."

School board member Jansen Robinson said he wanted to rename the schools but thought the county needed to seize the moment and go further in educating people about the change.

"I support the renaming of the schools," Robinson said. "I just think that there's something more that we should be doing."

Around 8:30 p.m., the school board voted unanimously to change both names.

Approving the renaming is the first step in a process that school officials said takes at least 60 days. In the next 60 days, the board will accept public comment on the renaming. Then the board must vote on a new name.