Yonkers Public Schools will rename Cesar Chavez School after abuse allegations emerge

Eight years after it was put up with pride, the name Cesar Chavez has been removed from a school in Yonkers.

Allegations that the farm labor leader abused women and teenagers are forcing changes across the country, including at Cesar Chavez School in Yonkers. His name has been taken off the front entrance.

"Obviously very serious offenses, so it was really important for us to move the name off, let the focus be on teaching and learning, and make it still continue to be a welcoming environment for our students without distracting them every day they walk in," Yonkers Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. said.

The superintendent said the district will seek public input on what to rename the school.

Until 2018, Chavez School was known as Cedar Place School, and it seems like there's a strong possibility that old name might be coming back.

On Long Island, Stony Brook University has started the process to rename Chavez Hall.

Elsewhere, statues of Chavez are coming down or being covered up.

"His family came out to apologize. What does that tell you?" said Martha Lopez, a leader in Westchester's Mexican American community.

She said reckoning with tributes to Chavez is painful but necessary.

"Because if you do not do that, what are you telling the kids at the school?" she said. "Yes, he did some amazing things that were good for the farm workers, but he did horrible things. And, again, no one is above the law."
     
Yonkers hopes have a new name in place at Chavez School by early May.