Burgaw Elementary School to be renamed C.F. Pope Elementary

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — During a meeting of the Pender County Board of Education Tuesday evening, the board voted to rename Burgaw Elementary School to C.F. Pope Elementary.

The school was originally known as C.F. Pope High School. A petition from the community spearheaded the effort to restore the school’s original name.

C.F. Pope was an African American professor and graduate of Shaw University. He was a principal in Pender County for 38 years.

Board member Ken Smith argued that restoring the name to C.F. Pope would bring a sense of pride and honor the county’s history.

After the board unanimously approved the name change, those who petitioned for it reacted.

“We felt like it was the appropriate time to ask for the name to be changed back to C.F. Pope because it holds a lot of history,” said C.F. Pope alumni president Arnold Moore.

“This name change brings all our people into the educational history of the town and part of the county, and I really appreciate what the board has done,” said another person who pushed for the name change.

A spokesman for Pender County Schools says there is currently no timeline for when the name change will be fully implemented.

Click here to watch the full meeting.

Click here to view the agenda.