100 signatures reached
To: Durham Community
Honoring former Mayor & County Commissioner William V. "Bill" Bell with a DPS Building
This is a petition to ask the Durham Public Schools Board of Education (DPS BOE) to honor former Mayor and County Commissioner William V. Bell by renaming a DPS building for him.
Please show your support for this cause by SIGNING this PETITION to be presented to the BOE meeting in September 2024.
DPS policy requires honorees to be deceased for five years before consideration of naming. However, this policy has been adjusted before, when the Minnie Forte-Brown Staff Development Center was named for the well-deserving Minnie Forte-Brown and Lucas Middle School was named for the longtime Durham educator, John H. Lucas Sr. and the late Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, the first black woman to serve in the state Senate.
The Honorable William V. Bell is similarly deserving. Before he led the City of Durham, Mayor Bell served as Chair of the Durham County Board of County Commissioners. He was a leading advocate for the merger of the Durham City Schools and Durham County Schools to what is now DPS. This was not a popular political position at the time. Nonetheless, Mayor Bell so firmly believed in educational equity for the children of Durham that he put his position on the line to fight for our kids and our schools. As a result of his fight, he lost reelection, but he always knew it was for the greater good.
His efforts are a big reason why we now have a united public school system in Durham, a school system that is a leader in fighting for educational equity in our state. Even after he lost his re-election bid, he stayed involved and committed to the causes of the Durham community, later serving as Mayor for many years.
Why is this important?
If you believe that his selfless service should be honored by DPS with a building in his name, we ask that you sign this petition. There is an old saying that we should “give people their flowers while they are alive.” This saying is so applicable here. Help us give Mayor Bell his flowers while he is alive.