The newest county elementary school will be named in honor of a family that founded a dairy farm, the Montgomery school board decided in a unanimous vote Monday.
Snowden Farm Elementary School, formerly referred to as Clarksburg Village Site No. 2, will open in the fall in Clarksburg, the first school named since the County Council president called on the school board to rename a Silver Spring school that carries the name of a segregationist.
Snowden Farm was the first choice for the school’s name, determined by a group of 16 community members, which was the factor that swayed some school board members to vote in its favor as opposed to the group’s second choice, Michelle Obama Elementary School.
The Snowden family, called a “pillar” of the Clarksburg community since the mid-1800s by the naming committee, operated a dairy farm in the rural upcounty. The school is being built on the family’s land.
Joann Woodson is the great-granddaughter of the founder of Snowden Farms, the last living member of the family, according to school board documents. She will celebrate her 90th birthday in May and worked for the county Recreation Department for 33 years.
“If the respected members of the Board of Education, today select the top choice of the naming committee, Snowden Farm Elementary School, as the name of the new school, I can proudly tell my daughter that your school is named after an African-American family who had made Clarksburg their home some 175 years back when Clarksburg was merely a stagecoach stop,” said Syyad Ali, a Clarksburg parent and member of the naming committee, before the board’s vote.
A second member of the naming committee, Andrew Italia, advocated in favor of Michelle Obama Elementary School, saying the former first lady has “enriched the D.C. area” in her work with schools pushing for physical activity and healthy school lunches.
“Ms. Obama’s example of standing up to bullying with composure and civility is a stark contrast to the state of civil discourse today,” Italia said. “This is a call to action that could be heard by each and every student each and every day they walk into the school and see her name on the wall.”
School board members concurred Obama would be an acceptable choice for a county school, but many felt pulled to support the community’s top choice and honor the school system’s naming policy, which says preference should be given to deceased individuals, specifically minority women.
Student school board member Ananya Tadikonda said she was “torn” before the vote, because she felt young students would be able to relate more to a national figure like Obama, but acknowledged it is important to honor locals.
“Given they’ll be growing up in a community so profoundly impacted by that family, it would be nice to go to school at a place where the school’s named after that so they do have an incentive to learn about that family,” Tadikonda said. “We’ll just have to do a little more work to make sure students know the significance of the name.”
Earlier this year, Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro urged the school system to rename Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School, named after the prominent Maryland politician and founder of the county Planning Department.
While Lee is credited with creating the first land use and zoning system for the county, historians say he purposely attached racist policies prohibiting African-Americans from buying or renting homes in subdivisions, according to county reports.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
