PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria Public Schools Building Committee has begun discussions to change certain building names.
In 2017, discussion began about renaming Woodrow Wilson Elementary, due to racial reasons.
In July 2018, the school was named for the area’s first black female doctor, Dr. Maude Sanders.
“This will be a process no matter how you handle it. And, I think that before we were dealing with one school, now we’re potentially talking about numerous schools,” PPS CFO Mick Willis said.
Willis said the building committee must do due diligence and make sure the whole school board wants the changes.
“I think we need to wrap our heads around if we’re going to have that discussion. We just need to make sure we allow the amount of time that discussion takes,” Willis said.
The schools in question are: Thomas Jefferson, Lindbergh, Roosevelt, Harrison, Washington Gifted and Calvin Coolidge.
District Vice President Gregory Wilson got the ball rolling Monday night when he suggested the process be undertaken.