Cesar Chavez High School could get a new name, depending on what residents say.
Residents have until Friday to respond to a survey from the Stockton Unified School District seeking input on the potential renaming of the school.
The survey comes months after a New York Times investigation detailed allegations that Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls and raped Stockton native and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta.
“The school district cares about the community voice, and we do want to hear how the community feels,” said district spokesperson Melinda Meza in a call with Stocktonia Wednesday. “This is a first step.”
The survey, published last week as a Google Form and shared on social media, asks residents to provide feedback and rate how strongly they support or oppose a name change.
One section asks how much cost should factor into any potential decision by the school board. According to the survey, the district estimates it would cost $2 million if a new name that keeps the initials “CCHS” is adopted, and approximately $3 million if a name with different initials is used.
While it was not immediately clear what the costs would entail, Meza said changes on everything from signage on the property to athletic uniforms would be necessary.
The money would come from the district’s general fund, its “least restrictive funding source,” according to the survey. If Chavez High is not renamed, the survey indicates that money could be used toward intervention teachers, staff retention bonuses, a school roof and an HVAC system.
In an email to Stocktonia, Meza said the school board will discuss the survey results at its Aug. 25 meeting to determine whether there is “enough interest” to consider renaming the school. She said the district could not say how many responses the survey has generated.
At the time of the allegations against Chavez — the Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association — one Change.org petition called for the renaming of the high school and the city’s Central Library. Since then, the school petition has collected nearly 400 signatures.
SUSD board member Frank Silva, who represents schools in east and south Stockton, said in a response on the Change.org survey that if a name change was considered, the district would form an advisory committee and hold a public hearing to gather community input. Meza also made a similar statement to Stocktonia at the time.
“As a district we are gathering all the information we can,” Silva wrote in response to the petition. “The community input is an essential part of the school naming process.”
At the time, Meza declined to comment whether the district or school board supported removing Chavez’s name from the local school.
On Wednesday, Meza told Stocktonia that even if a name change is favored among survey respondents, a modification of that caliber would not happen immediately.
“It’s a process. It’s not just ‘Oh, we’re going to change a name to this,’ and then the board votes,” Meza said, referring to the board’s bylaws regarding the naming of facilities. “This is the first step into seeing how much interest there is. There may be a big interest; there may not be. So that’s why we’re putting it out. We want to get an accurate feel of the community voice.”
Earlier this year, Stockton councilmembers moved to cover the Chavez name at the city’s Central Library, which was named in his honor in 1994. The city also approved an ad hoc committee to consider whether to rename the library, an issue that was not resolved before the library closed earlier this month for a three-year, $15 million renovation project.