LCPS seeks input before meeting to consider renaming Oñate High School
Algernon D'Ammassa
This article originally misstated the year that Oñate High School has opened. It has been updated with the correct date.
LAS CRUCES - The Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education has called a special meeting on July 14 to consider renaming Oñate High School, at a time when monuments to the Spanish conquistador around the state have been removed or protested in the context of renewed resistance nationwide to memorials honoring the confederacy and historical slaveholders and colonialists.
The school board is seeking public input following discussion of the high school's name at its June 25 meeting. The school district has opened a bilingual survey online that can be accessed at www.SurveyMonkey.com/r/OnateHS.
LCPS spokeswoman Kelly Jameson said the meeting was set for 1 p.m. on July 14. During the COVID-19 emergency, the school board has been conducting meetings via live stream and available for viewing online.
A majority of comments read at the June 25 meeting supported changing the name, while some were opposed.
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The school, which opened in 1988, is named for Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar, colonial governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and leader of a brutal massacre of the Acoma Pueblo in 1599.
In a news release, the school district included a link to a Wikipedia article about Oñate.
In June, Rio Arriba County workers removed a statue commemorating Oñate in Alcalde. County Manager Tomas Campos said the move was to prevent the statue from being vandalized and to avert violent confrontations at the site.
Campos' fears appeared to be realized elsewhere on June 15, when violence and gunfire erupted in front of the Albuquerque Museum as protesters there attempted to remove the statute themselves in the presence of an armed militia group.
Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.
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