The New Haven Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday, November 10, to rename César Chávez Middle School as Lisjan Nation Middle School. District officials say Lisjan means “Big Valley” and that the name was chosen after consultation with Ohlone Chochenyo leaders.
According to the New Haven Unified School District, the decision capped an extensive community engagement process. A Facility Names Committee drew more than 150 applicants and reviewed 442 suggested names before the board made its final call. Superintendent Dr. John Thompson said in a statement that “We hope this decision will bring our community together around a shared sense of history, respect, and belonging.”
A Forum and 70 Voices Before the Vote
Before the board acted, the district held a special community forum on October 27, the same account notes. At a related special meeting, 70 community members shared their perspectives with the board, the district said in a message from Thompson. The district has also said its schools sit on the ancestral lands of the Ohlone-Checheno people, part of the broader framing it used throughout the renaming process.
The path to Lisjan Nation Middle School wasn't a straight line. An earlier renaming committee had recommended against naming the school after another person at all, according to Citizen Portal. That same committee had identified “Union” as the geographic option that best met community and historical criteria, while advising further consultation with Ohlone representatives before a final name was settled.
Part of a Broader Statewide Reckoning
Union City's vote lands amid a wider, uneven reconsideration of César Chávez place names across California. Government leaders in Fresno and Sacramento have called for some of these names to be changed, CapRadio reported, while Bakersfield officials said they would pause their own street-renaming effort. Several state lawmakers, including L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn and state Senator Shannon Grove, have separately pushed to rename César Chávez Day as Farm Worker Day, per the same report.
Other districts have taken their own routes. The Oxnard School District's board voted unanimously on March 25 to begin renaming its own César Chavez-named campus, and the board approved the new name, Juanita Academy of Literacy, Communication Arts and Technology, according to an Aug. 25 release cited by the Ventura County Star. That name nods to the street where the school was formerly located, and officials said the full rollout would take time since the state department of education must be notified of the change.
In Long Beach, the renaming process followed a different trigger. Long Beach Unified removed César Chávez's name from an elementary school after revelations surfaced in March that Chávez had sexually abused girls and women, LAist reported. That district invited students, families, and staff to submit suggestions, with names like Sea Lion Elementary, Long Beach Elementary, Third Street Elementary, and Golden Elementary emerging as popular choices, per the outlet's account.
What New Haven's Policy Says
Under New Haven Unified's Board Policy 7310, the Board of Education holds final decision-making authority over the name of a school site, per the district. That authority is what the board exercised Tuesday in formally adopting Lisjan Nation Middle School as the new name for the Union City campus.
