A Dallas Independent School District press conference informed the public social justice in South Dallas was coming soon.
Students, staff, and community members gathered on campus for the announcement despite a Dallas ISD prohibition in most schools on visitors.
The new campus is expected to be completed in 2024.
Social Justice In South Dallas Academy Named After John Lewis
“I’m happy to announce that O.W. Holmes will now be the John Lewis Social Justice Academy at O.W. Holmes,” Dallas ISD Trustee Maxie Johnson told those assembled. Johnson is also pastor at New Morning Star Baptist Church.
The school is currently named for Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Supreme Court Justice, who has been the third-most cited American legal scholar of the 20th century.
It is unclear Trustee Johnson’s commitment to social justice though. In the summer, Johnson accused white and Latino parents at Harry Stone of being racist after they raised concerns about school funds being misappropriated. The meeting revealed that staff has been assaulted by a family member of another school employee.
Early in the school year, Johnson also returned to calling parents racist after they expressed concern over hidden COVID19 numbers at Harry Stone that have now risen to fifty total cases out of a student population of approximately three hundred.
There were no protests arranged at Harry Stone Montessori over these numbers, unlike Dealey Montessori in North Dallas – which is predominantly white. Trustee Johnson has yet to return email requests for comment on his actions on any of these topics.