According to a Wednesday night article in Village Green, the majority of the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education members have chosen to rename Jefferson Elementary School in Maplewood to honor the first Black female graduate of Columbia High School.
According to a report in TAPInto, Winnie Delia Bolden, a 1912 CHS alumnus, received the most support during a “non-binding, informal straw poll” during the board meeting on Monday night.
Some people disputed the choice, claiming that more input ought to have been taken into account, according to the Village Green report.
The name was on a list of names that students had submitted.
The list also features other well-known CHS alums and people from underrepresented backgrounds, such as Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs, CHS ’80.
As the school “bears the name of an enslaver devoted to perpetuating the system of slavery,” the board had previously agreed to accept a resolution asking for new names for the institution.
