Parents, alumni speak out against proposed Melbourne High School name change

Bailey Gallion
Florida Today

At a tense meeting Monday evening, parents, alumni and community members expressed disapproval of a proposal to rename Melbourne High School after a prominent Hispanic astronaut.

Brevard Public Schools held the second of three scheduled public meetings to gather community feedback on the proposal to rename Melbourne High School “Astronaut Joseph M. Acaba Melbourne High School.”

Acaba taught science for one year at Melbourne High School and four years at Dunnellon High School in Marion County. He was the first person of Puerto Rican heritage to be named a NASA astronaut candidate in 2004, and has gone on to visit the International Space Station on three missions, spending a total of 306 days in space.

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United Third Bridge President Samuel Lopez, who championed the idea, died in January.

Lopez and other supporters said Acaba was an inspiration to students as both the first person of Puerto Rican heritage in space and as a prominent astronaut. Since Lopez’s death, his daughter, Samantha Bickman, has asked the Board of Education to rescind the application to rename the school. 

At the meeting Monday, Florida Puerto Rican Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Santa Isabel Wright and Teresa Lopez, wife to Sam Lopez, were the only voices in favor of the plan. They sat at a table on the floor of the gym as about 50 people on the bleachers cheered in favor each time someone spoke against the name change and muttered amongst themselves at every argument in favor.

Tension simmered early when Wright took her three minutes to speak.

“I know everybody is trying to make this racial,” Wright said, prompting shouting from the bleachers.

“No, YOU did that!” one woman yelled. “You made this about race!”

As the bleachers erupted into arguments and side discussions, event organizers warned them to be quiet.

“Why is it such a big problem to say ‘Joe Acaba’ because he happens to be of Hispanic descent?” Wright asked. “Why don't we look at his accomplishments. That's what we should be doing with everyone. Look at their accomplishments. … Please understand that this it not about race, this is about accomplishments.”

Later Wright engaged with a speaker who turned away from the microphone to direct his comments to her, prompting another warning.

Opponents argued in turn that their concerns with the name change had nothing to do with race. They said that the proposed name was too long, that Brevard County already had an "Astronaut High School" in Titusville, that other alumni were more worthy, that the name "Melbourne High School" held meaning to their families. They said their legitimate concerns were being written off as racism.

Several speaking against the name change said they believed Acaba did not teach at Melbourne High School long enough to warrant naming the entire school after him.

“If (Acaba) was here, I would ask him what his favorite memory of (Melbourne High) is because I can tell you mine,” Tim Glazar, a 1999 graduate, said. “I remember flirting with my wife in math class. I remember coaches trying to kill us in the gym before they had air conditioning during summer drills. I remember breaking my ankle on a layup. … I'd love to know the gentleman's most dearest memories of the school because I don't think he was here long enough.”

Samantha Nazario, mother to a Melbourne High School graduate, said she had been in contact with Lopez's children and read a statement purportedly from Bickman in favor of recognizing Acaba in some other way, such as by naming a building on campus after him.

"That is what we're here for today, is to come together as a community and advocate for inclusion and diversion," Nazario said. "I don't use the 'R' word, I don't have that problem here, everyone sitting up here is a bulldog and is my family as far as I'm concerned. ...The actual UTC Brevard will be is not requesting a name change, we're requesting a name placement."

Wright said she has received obscene and rude Facebook messages for supporting the name change. She characterized the proposed name as an addition, not a change, because "Melbourne" remains in the school name.

“I think as a community we need to come together and say, ‘You know what, maybe we don't want the name to be changed, but we can add it,’ and that's what United Third Bridge and the chamber is trying to do,” Wright said. “Let us represent our history, just like everybody else.”

Brevard County School Board Vice Chair Matt Susin has called for the School Board to end the name change process. If it does not, another meeting will be held in fall 2021 to discuss the change again. Both Melbourne High School and the School Board would have to approve the name change.

Wright said Tuesday that she does not expect the school district to add Acaba's name to Melbourne High School's name, but that she will continue the fight until the end. At the very least, the conversation has shifted to include adding Acaba's name to the next school built in Brevard County — an idea echoed by the multiple people at Monday's meeting that said, "Name the next school after him, but not this one."

"You can't win every battle, but the war is not lost yet," Wright said. "The war is still going, and when that next school gets built, it (will be built) in the name in the Hispanic man."

Bailey Gallion is the education reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallion at 321-242-3786 or bgallion@floridatoday.com.