The Carter G. Woodson Preparatory Academy in Lexington has changed its name to the George Washington Carver STEM Academy for Boys.
The Fayette County Public Schools Board announced the change earlier this month. According to Soraya Matthews, who is the chief of Fayette diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, the Fayette Public Schools Equity Council made two recommendations for the new name. Carver was a black scientist who was active in the early 1900s. The other option was Henry Boyd STEM Academy for Boys, named after a black native of Kentucky whose career focused on technology and math.
This is the first elementary school exclusively for boys that focuses on STEM learning in Fayette County, and it opened its doors at the start of the 2021-22 school year. When it opened, it was named after the Carter G. Woodson Academy, which is an all-boys program that serves the district’s middle and high schools. The district’s officials decided that the school needed to rebrand so that it is not confused with a high school of a similar name. Graphic design can be used to create new logos for a school as part of a rebrand.
According to a member of the board, Stephanie Spires, the name change will become official on July 1st. When the school system in Fayette was desegregated, a promise was made to name the new schools after closed segregated schools such as Dunbar and George Washington Carver.
