The Committee of the Whole of the Council of the District of Columbia, chaired by Phil Mendelson, held a public hearing on September 24, 2026, to consider three bills related to naming and renaming DC public school buildings. The hearing covered proposed designations for a new middle school in Ward 1 (Alma Thomas Middle School replacing the initially proposed Dolores Tucker name), the Elizabeth M. Goodman Health School (renaming from C. Melvin Sharp Health School), and the Malcolm X Elementary School (official recognition of the commonly used name). The meeting began late due to security barriers around downtown.
I'm calling to order this hearing. This is a public hearing of the committee of the whole of the Council of the District of Columbia. I'm Phil Mendelssohn. Chair of the Council and Chair of the Committee of the Whole. Today is Thursday, September 24th, 2026. The time is 10.44 in the morning, and we are in room 123 of the Johnny Wilson building, where we are having a hearing on three bills that are pending in the committee as a whole. I want to just start by apologizing for our starting late. It was amazing trying to get to this building. I am just amazed and disappointed and actually kind of annoyed at our President of the United States, who is so afraid of the citizens of our country and so concerned with building eight-foot fences around everything that people can't get around downtown. I don't understand it. I think it's uh kind of shameful. I think it's contrary to what our country is all about. And on the most sarcastic way I can say it, I uh thank you, Mr. President. Um to get here, I um, because I went uh across Pennsylvania Avenue this morning to meet somebody, and to get here I had to literally go up to Metro Center, take the subway to Federal Triangle so that I could get to the building. Uh so my apologies that we're starting late. The subject of this hearing is three bills. Uh they are Bill 26-12 entitled Dolores Tucker Middle School Designation Act of 2025, which was introduced on January 3rd, 2025 by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau. Uh the purpose of the bill is to designate the school, which um some people are calling uh Euclid Euclid uh middle school, which is not open yet, um, which is on land bounded by Euclid Street, 9th Street, Barrie Place, and Georgia Avenue, all northwest. And my understanding is that there's going to be testimony to propose a different name for this school. Uh the school at this location uh is referred to as Euclid Street Middle School. It's currently undergoing modernization, which will be completed for the school year 2028-2029. Students from Cleveland Elementary, Seaton Elementary, and Garrison Elementary Schools will feed into this new middle school, and those school communities have provided feedback on the proposed name. The second bill is Bill 26-624, which is entitled The Elizabeth M. Goodman Health School Redesignation Act of 2026. This bill was introduced by Councilmembers Janice Lewis George, Robert White, Matt Matthew Freeman, Brooke Pinto, and Christina Henderson on March 3rd of this year. And the stated purpose is to redesignate the school. It is on land bounded by 13th Street, Allison Street, Arkansas Avenue, and 14th Street, all northwest. Oops, and it says Upshur Street. The designated as Elizabeth M. Goodman Health School. Currently, the site is named C. Melvin Sharp Health School, and this building serves as swing space for DCPS schools to use while their school buildings undergo modernization. Melvin Sharp served as the President of the District of Columbia Board of Education in the 1950s, and he refused to integrate DCPS, which led to the lawsuit bowling v Sharp, which was a companion case to Brown v. Board of Education, which ultimately helped bring about the end of school segregation across the United States. Through a community-driven process, community members, families in the advisory neighborhood commission for C agreed to rename the building after Elizabeth M. Goodman, who was the former principal of the health school, where she developed programs to support students who required specialized physical and medical care. The third bill is Bill 26-698, which was introduced by Councilmember Traon White on May 28th of this year. And the stated purpose is to redesignate the school on land bounded by Mississippi Avenue, 15th Street, and 15th Street in all Southeast in Ward 8 as Malcolm X Elementary School. Currently the school is named Mildred Green Elementary School, but it has long been referred to as Malcolm X at Green Elementary. The school is newly modernized. It was newly modernized. No, it is newly modernized for the 2026-2027 school year. And the new signage refers to the school simply as Malcolm X Elementary School. Bill 26-698 will reconcile the official school name with the widely accepted school name, which is to say Malcolm X Elementary School. Malcolm X was a prominent civil rights activist who clearly articulated many African Americans' frustration with inequality and racism. With regard to this hearing, the record will be open for two weeks. That is, it will close at 5 p.m. on October 8th. And what does that mean?