After news broke in March on Cesar Chavez’s sexual assault allegations, local leaders across the nation have begun removing his iconography by changing street names, schools, libraries and monuments.
Now, that change is officially coming to Watsonville, with the renaming of Cesar Chavez Middle School to Central Coast Middle School.
A committee of parents, students, staff, administrators and community members came up with the name, saying that it shows regional identity, while maintaining the initials “CCMS.”
The committee also presented a second option to the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees: Tagami-Hashimoto Middle School, named for Asian American Pajaro Valley educators Jeff Tagami and Mas Hashimoto. Support for that name greatly diminished after the board discussed that the Hashimoto family was not interested in having a school named after him.
Additionally, the cost of the change to Central Coast Middle School was expected to be around $25,000. The name change to Tagami-Hashimoto Middle School was expected to cost around $110,000.
Still, the board agreed that the district should do more to honor the history of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the Pajaro Valley. The final vote approved the name “Central Coast Middle School,” and created a committee to identify locations on district property to present a mural reflecting the cultural contributions of the AAPI community to the Pajaro Valley.
The motion passed 4 to 1, with trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. voting no, stating that he wanted the district to go further in its representation of Asian American history.
“Visibility is what our community asked for, and I really want us to deliver on that,” said Trustee Gabe Medina.
In other news, a new performing arts center at Pajaro Valley High School is now one step closer to becoming a reality.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees selected Swinerton Construction to build the center at a Wednesday night meeting. Funding for the project comes from Measure M, a bond measure passed in 2024 to upgrade educational infrastructure.
The project is expected to be completed by summer of 2028.
Wow they are making a decision based on allegations. That’s brilliant.