Renaming Enloe High School after Jesse Helms?

While it's looking less likely that Enloe High School will undergo a name change, what about renaming it after former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms?

As noted in today's article, school board member John Tedesco said it's an unlikely that any school will be renamed unless something "horrid" is discovered about the person who bears the name of that school. Tedesco has been tasked by school board chairman Ron Margiotta with reviewing the racial history of former Raleigh Mayor William G. Enloe.

Enter into the mix a question that Cash Michaels, reporter and chief editor of The Carolinian, the twice-weekly African American newspaper, is asking.

In an e-mail message to all the school board members, Michaels is asking if they'd consider renaming Enloe after Helms, the darling of conservatives.

Tedesco is giving several reasons for why renaming Enloe, or any other school, would be a problem.

Tedesco cited how a school's name can become part of its identity after so many years. In Enloe's case, it's had the name since opening in 1962.

Tedesco also cited the financial cost of changing a school's name.

But now that the policy committee is recommending that Wake be allowed to again name schools after people, it doesn't mean Helms couldn't become an issue in the future.

Tedesco would not commit to naming or not naming a school after Helms. He said that it's not an issue now because there are no new schools that need to be named soon. He said there a number of community leaders who would be good choices for school names when it gets to that point.