School to be named after journalist, undocumented immigrant

Source: Associated Press


Updated 12:48 pm, Saturday, June 16, 2018

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — At a divisive time for U.S. immigration policies, a California school board has decided to name a new elementary school after an award-winning journalist who disclosed in 2011 that he had been living in the U.S. illegally.

The Mountain View Whisman School District board voted Thursday to name the as-yet-unopened school after Jose Antonio Vargas, bypassing Steve Jobs and other technology giants with ties to the San Francisco Bay Area's high-tech Silicon Valley.

"We wanted to pick someone who embodied the values of what you can do with an education, as Jose does," school board president Laura Blakely told the San Francisco Chronicle .

The move comes as the Trump administration faces a growing backlash from human-rights adocates over its immigration practices.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Silicon-Valley-to-name-school-after-Asian-13000268.php