School board to hear recommendation on renaming George Fox Middle

Should George Fox Middle School in Pasadena be renamed? A committee of school staff, students, parents and members of the community will make a recommendation to the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County next Wednesday.

The board unanimously voted to create the committee last July after racist remarks made by George Fox, the school system’s first superintendent who served from 1916 to 1946, were discussed.

Walter S. Mills-Parole Elementary School in Annapolis is named for the target of Fox’s actions, Walter S. Mills. He was the principal of Parole Elementary School for 47 years. In 1937, Mills initially decided to sue the state over unequal pay for Black teachers, who were making $765 a year compared to $1,250 for white teachers during his career, Baltimore Sun reported in 2010.

A 29-year-old Thurgood Marshall, who would go on to become the first Black Supreme Court justice, convinced Mills to sue the county instead. When arguing against Mills, then-Superintendent George Fox said: “The worst white teacher is better than the best Black teacher.”

Mills and Marshall won the case.

In an opinion issued November of 1939, U.S. District Judge W. Calvin Chestnut said the board’s policy was unconstitutional.

A single pay scale was established by the end of 1940.

George Fox Middle School opened to students in 1949, a few years after Fox retired.

The board will hear the committee’s recommendation at its meeting March 17 at 6 p.m. While the board will meet in-person, social distancing precludes public attendance, and the meeting will be streamed online instead. To testify, register starting Sunday at 5 p.m. at www.aacps.org/boardtestimony.