For several months, the school board took in suggestions for the the name of the new elementary school for Madison's far west side, in Linden Park.
Monday night, hundreds of Hmong parents and students filled the Doyle Administration building as board member Shwaw Vang pushed to name the school [after] General Vang Pao, a prominent Hmong leader.
After a 12 minute speech in which Shwaw Vang talked of General Pao's importance to the Hmong and how naming the school after him would help the Hmong feel like they are part of the school district, the board unanimously voted to name the school General Vang Pao Elementary.
I had been hoping the school would be named for a distinguished Madisonian, such as Howard Temin (a brilliant and deeply humane UW Nobel Laureate, leading AIDS researcher, and anti-smoking campaigner) or Shirley Abrahamson (Wisconsin's first female Chief Justice, and one of the most distinguished Justices and judicial leaders in the state's history). Or maybe the first Hmong (female) graduate of UW Law School. But judging from recent performances, Shwaw Vang would not know much about American ideals of law or justice.
For a full appreciation of General Vang Pao's many noteworthy contributions, school board members and other readers might wish to consult the highly acclaimed scholarly work of UW Professor Alfred McCoy. (McCoy himself apparently has alternative suggestions for a Hmong worthy of this naming honor.) Or, for general tone and atmosphere, Tom Wolfe might be appropriate.
No doubt, the new school's gardens will be festooned with colorful fields of poppies, providing opportunities for on-campus agricultural training, as well as supplemental funding sources for enhanced school activities.
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