As the head of the school district s art department has described acronyms as symptoms of white supremacy culture, the department is dropping its acronym to adopt a new name so that "families can better understand" who they are. However, the new name is also an acronym.

The San Francisco Unified School District has jumped on the bandwagon of name changers, citing reasons of alleged racism. The district s art department is dropping its name after the school district has adopted an anti-acronym stance, arguing that acronyms reflect white supremacy.

The art department, so far, has been referred to as VAPA, meaning Visual and Performing Arts, but a recent memo reveals that the director of the department believes „acronyms are a symptom of white supremacy culture.” According to director Sam Bass, „the use of so many acronyms within the educational field often times tends to alienate those who may not speak English to understand those acronyms.” 

Despite the name change, the department has failed to remedy the very problem posed by the original name, as its new name – SFUSD Arts Department, where SFUSD stands for San Francisco Unified School District – is also, basically, an acronym. The department head is pleased with the new name and told KGO-TV channel that it was a very simple step they could take so that parents can „better understand who we are”. 

According to KGO-TV the anti-acronym sentiment can be traced back to a 1999 study written by Tema Okun. Okun told the channel that culture perpetuates racism by constantly describing certain things in a certain way.

Anti-racism is receiving special attention not only in San Francisco s schools, but also in Maryland. There, the school district of Montgomery County has decided to make anti-racism a major theme in the curriculum from pre-kindergarten groups to grade 12 classes. The „culturally responsive” curriculum would promote equity, respect and anti-racist thinking,” among other things.

The school district came up with the idea for the experimental framework after the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium had conducted an anti-racist inspection there. The school district has also modified its definitions of the terms „racist” and „discrimination” and adopted a different interpretation from that of Merriam-Webster s dictionary.

According to their description, discrimination „also includes conduct or practices that may be facially neutral but that have an unjustified disparate impact based on individuals actual or perceived personal characteristics. Discrimination encompasses racism, sexism, and any other form of institutional prejudice in all their manifestations.” As for racism, the district says it „means the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another.”