It usually occurs when the schooling process approaches. Families are interested in enrolling their children and ask about the La Inmaculada schoola center located in Cortadura, a neighborhood at the entrance to Cádiz, practically on the outskirts. “They consult us believing that we are a charter school,” explains the director, Daniel Borrego. But La Inmaculada, despite the religious connotations of its name, is a public and secular center.
These common confusions are part of the reasons that have led to starting a contest to, more than half a century after its creation, find a new name for it. But this decision has caused a deep controversy, so intense that it has included threats, insults and even a motion in the Andalusian Parliament to prevent it.
The CEIP La Inmaculada was born in 1972. The growing military population that the city of Cádiz had at that time, with many positions displaced from various parts of the country, led to the initiative to create a school that would meet the educational needs of the children of Army personnel. First, a small school was created in the basement of the houses where Defense personnel were assigned. As the student body grew, a school, with the same name, and an institute, Cortadura, were later built at the entrance to the city, in reference to the area and the beach of the city where it is located. At their best, they had up to 1,800 students.
The military roots of its origin may explain the intensity of the controversy surrounding changing its name. In Cádiz, the names of other centers have already been changed without causing any trauma. This is what happened with Andalucía, which was renamed Juan Carlos Aragón, in reference to the deceased carnival author; or with Carola Ribed, wife of a Francoist governor, who has been renamed María Valle, in reference to her beloved president of the mothers and fathers association.
A “consensual” decision
The school, which at its creation depended on the Ministry of Defense, has been, for years, a public and secular center that depends, like all the others, on the Junta de Andalucía. It has been now, after celebrating the 50 years of the center in 2022, when the management and the School Council have agreed hold a contest to change the name. “We are pleased to announce that we have begun an exciting and participatory process to change the name of our educational center. “We want this new name to reflect our values, our history and commitment to the future of this community.”
The director, Daniel Borrego, has explained that this “consensual” decision is based on the need to disassociate the center from religious connotations, avoid confusion and favor a new image. “There are many people who believe that because of our denomination we are a concerted center.” For this reason, in the contest rules, where the educational community can propose new names, religious and political references are explicitly excluded. The idea is that the new brand represents the environment, the location and is also easy to pronounce.
The mere announcement of the contest represented a true revolution in social networks. The comments on the Facebook entry announcing the search for a new name were filled with disqualifications, insults and profanity. “We have received direct threats in the school email,” they say from the mothers and fathers association.
An ideological battle
The truth is that the name change of La Inmaculada has become a kind of ideological battle with letters from former professors, former students and articles in the conservative press. An association of former students has promoted a collection of signatures to stop the contest. “It is inappropriate and out of place to propose a name change to erase all of our past. If what they are trying to do is a name that reflects our values, that is La Inmaculada,” says Pablo Rodríguez.
The last to join this initiative to stop the name change have been the Vox deputies Manuel Gavira and José Ortells, who have presented a non-law proposal in the Andalusian Parliament to ask “Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla to stop this change of name.” name and prevent the original religious names of Andalusian schools from being lost.” Vox attributes that modifying this name means ending “a cultural, historical and spiritual legacy deeply rooted in our land.”
The promoters of the change, who are the ones who have the authority to do so, explain that they are looking for exactly that: that their school does not have any political or religious connotation in its name. And they want the process to be participatory, and for the students, and also the old ones, to be able to propose the new name for this historic educational center.
The deadline to submit proposals ends on January 12. A jury made up of members of the School Council will decide. Those responsible for the winning proposal will receive a diploma and public recognition. This is what the bases say, but the atmosphere is so rarefied that the promoters of this contest have preferred to keep a low profile in recent days. For now, the Junta de Andalucía and the Cadiz City Councilboth administrations governed by the PP, have addressed the school to ask for explanations about this process. They did not do so in previous name changes of other public centers in the city.
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