Schools
NJ School Board Makes Decision On Renaming School After Trump
The announcement comes following weeks of controversy surrounding the renaming proposal, including a joke on Saturday Night Live.
COLTS NECK, NJ — A New Jersey school board will not be moving forward with a board member’s suggestion to rename one of the district’s schools for President Trump.
During a Colts Neck Board of Education meeting on Wednesday night, Board President Angelique Volpe said the district will not be moving forward with Board Member Robert Scales’ proposal to rename one of their schools as “Donald J. Trump Primary School.”
The proposal was first made earlier in March, during one of the board’s previous meetings.
Find out what's happening in Marlboro-Coltsneckfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“On Wednesday, March 4th, during the New Business section of the board’s committee of a whole meeting — a portion of the meeting where we discuss new programs and new opportunities for consideration — a sitting board member brought forth the idea of a potential name change of our primary school,” Volpe said.
“Please be reminded, many ideas are brought forward every single meeting, especially during New Business. Some advance forward, others take on a hybrid variation, while others cease to proceed,” she continued. “With that said, I want to make it clear – very clear – the board will not be moving forward on the proposed name change of Conover Road Primary School.”
Find out what's happening in Marlboro-Coltsneckfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Though the board won’t be moving forward with Scales’ renaming proposal, many residents still showed up to the meeting to voice their opposition to a potential renaming, with some even suggesting alternate names that poked fun at the idea.
Kyler Dineen, a representative of NJ Voters For Church & State Separation, read the results of a contest that the organization ran to find alternative names for Conover Road Primary School, should the board ever pursue renaming in the future.
Suggested names ranged from Bruce Springsteen Elementary to Jon Bon Jovi Elementary, Queen Latifah Elementary, and Jon Stewart Elementary.
Some even sent in “Conover Road Primary School” as a submission, imploring the board to keep the school’s current name intact.
“One was ‘Bored of Education Elementary,’” Dinenn said. “With the submitter writing ‘This is a waste of time and resources and is bringing much unwanted, negative attention to the Colts Neck School System. The Board of Education should instead just focus on children’s education and not this entirely unnecessary nonsense.’”
The NJ Voters For Church & State Separation are far from the first to quip about the board’s suggested renaming, either.
During a recent episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL), Weekend Update Co-Host Michael Che commented on the proposal as well, joking that a “New Jersey school board” was considering renaming a school to “Trump Elementary: Home Of The Fightin’ Allegations."
Though some residents attended Wednesday night’s meeting to object to the renaming idea, some also came to voice their support.
One resident, Alice Finney, said there are over 4,000 schools renamed after U.S. presidents, and while Scales’ renaming proposal didn’t make it far, she did think “it was a great idea.”
“President Trump is one of the best presidents of this century,” Finney said. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation, and I just hope that some of the young people really listen to all sorts of information and actually listen to what is produced by the White House and what some of the politicians are saying, because I think there’s a lot of secondhand information that’s coming out, and I think history will tell the truth in the end.”
During Wednesday night’s meeting, Volpe also directly addressed Scales regarding his proposal, adding that “nothing was ever moving forward, it was just a nice sentiment.”
“I appreciated it, Mr. Scales,” she said. “I’m sorry that this got blown out of proportion.”
To watch a full recording of Wednesday night’s school board meeting, you can click here.
Previous Coverage
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
