As the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education reconvenes Tuesday for its only July school board meeting, trustees will consider its options for re-naming the old Burnett Elementary School site, which will be, among other things, the new home to Central Continuation High School for the 2013-14 school year.
The renovated facility at 85 Tilton Ave. in northwest Morgan Hill has been closed to students since the summer of 2008 and, most recently, was used as the headquarters for the Sierra LaMar search efforts, which now operate out of the old Central site at 17960 Monterey Road.
Back in March, the Board voted in favor of a $7 million modernization plan – the first funds taken from the $198 million, voter-approved Measure G capital improvements bond – and construction is scheduled to be completed before the start of the upcoming school year.
However, a name change for the site was not publicly discussed until Valentin Lopez, Tribal Chairperson for the Amah-Mutson Tribal Band of Costanoan/Ohlone Indians, addressed the issue at the June 25 school board meeting. Lopez stated that the namesake for the former elementary school, Peter Hardeman Burnett, the first state governor of California, was a racist who, during his term from 1849-1851, signed an executive order to exterminate all Indians; paid bounties of 25 cents to $5 for every dead Indian; and paid for military excursions to hunt and kill Indians.
“Morgan Hill can do much better than that,” said Lopez, a 1970 Live Oak High School alumnus. “To us, Peter Burnett is both a Hitler and a Ku Klux Klan leader.”
Although board members did not comment on Lopez’s claims during the meeting, interim Superintendent Steve Betando – who replaced the departed Wes Smith at the beginning of July – later said the district would consider a name change for the Burnett site.
“Clearly, the lasting effects of California’s first governor’s actions and intentions continue to cause pain to Native American community,” Betando said. “It is important for us to consider historical information and what a name represents when making decisions about facilities in our community.”
A decision on the new name for the facility is expected Tuesday, and the public can offer their suggestions prior to the action item being discussed by the Board.
Burnett Elementary, which was closed in a cost-cutting move by MHUSD brought on by the state budget crisis of the time, was the first Morgan Hill school and was built at a different location in 1856. In 1897, a new two-story school house was built at the corner of Burnett Avenue and Monterey Road. Further growth warranted another new school, the current site at 85 Tilton Ave.
Principally associated with Mission San Juan Bautista and the surrounding areas of Hollister and Gilroy, the Amah-Mutsun Tribal Band occupied the San Juan Valley “long before the Spanish arrived in the late 1700s,” as noted on the tribe’s website. The indigenous peoples were subjected to a subservient existence beneath the Spanish Catholic regime when European colonization of the Pacific coast began in the 1770s.
Lopez, whose request, he said, was not his alone but “coming from our Amah-Mutsun Tribe,” mentioned three possible name changes for the old Burnett School, including Yuukis, which means Acorn (the mascot of LOHS) and Yuukan, which means Madrone (the area surrounding Burnett).
Other agendized items include: An informational report on Morgan Hill Community Adult School; a discussion of the continuation high school programs; and the Board’s approval of the contract with Mc2 Communications to provide public information and community outreach for the district.
