JCPS approves names of 3 new schools opening next academic year

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools has decided on names for three new schools.

The school board approved the names for three new schools on Tuesday night. The three schools will open next school year.

Perry-Wheatley Elementary School will be located on Broadway and 18th Street.

William H. Perry, Sr. graduated from Louisville Central High School in 1877. He then became a teacher at the school. Perry graduated from Illinois Medical College and became the first African-American physician to receive a Kentucky license to practice medicine in 1908.

Perry was also a graduate of Central Law School, and recognized as a poet, writer and orator. In 1952, William H. Perry, Sr. Elementary School was named in his honor. He had been the head principal of the school from 1891 to 1927.

The school later merged with Roosevelt School to become Roosevelt-Perry Elementary School.

Phillis Wheatley is one of the best-known poets in the pre-19th century. Born in 1753, Wheatley was born in West Africa and enslaved at seven years old.

Wheatley learned to read and write, studying the Bible, astronomy, geography, history and literature.

Echo Trail Middle School is named after the road it will be located on in east Louisville. The road runs adjacent to the Parklands of Floyds Fork.

Dr. J. Blaine Hudson Middle School is named after a career educator from Louisville.

During his life, Dr. J. Blaine Hudson, III combined activism, scholarship, and community service work to improve his community. He was born in Louisville and attended Louisville Male High School.

He served as a student leader of the University of Louisville Black Student Union, which successfully advocated for the creation of a Pan-African Studies Department.

Hudson was the sole author of Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland and other books. Hudson was a popular teacher and advocate for social justice.

He served as chair of the UofL Pan-African Department from 1998 to 2003. He was UofL’s Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences from 1994 to 2004. In 2004, he was appointed to serve as Acting Dean. Hudson was appointed Dean of UofL’s College of Arts & Sciences in 2005. He remained Dean until his death in 2013.

The names were picked after more than a thousand online submissions and public forums.