Education
It is in Prince George's County Public Schools. [11]
Schools in the CDP include: [12] Barack Obama Elementary School, [13] and Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School. [14] These schools, in the 2010 U.S. Census, were in the Westphalia CDP. [15]
School zones include:
Obama Elementary was the first school in the Washington, D.C., area that was named after the former president. [19] It is adjacent to Wise High School. [20] The Prince George's County school board approved of the name of the school on June 25, 2009; [19] all board members voted in favor of the renaming. [20] The school opened on August 23, 2010, and had a cost of $25 million. The architect was Grimm + Parker Architects, [21] and it was built for 792 students. [20] The school's cooling system relies on over 144 geothermal pumps. [22] The initial enrollment was 798, slightly higher than the school's stated capacity. [19] Its opening relieved Arrowhead, Marlton, Melwood, Patuxent and Perrywood, elementary schools. [21] The first principal was Pearl Harmon, a Liberian American; [22] in 2014 she was reassigned to an administrative position in the PG County school system. [23] Several school board members argued that naming a school after Obama would inspire area students. Many schools in PG County were named after African-Americans, and PG County voters primarily support the Democratic Party, Obama's political party. [24] In the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, 89% of PG County residents voted for Obama. The chairperson of the PG County Republican Party Central Committee, Mykel Harris, argued that the county should not name a school after a current president, while the chairperson of the board, Ron L. Watson, stated that the vote was not done out of political considerations. [20]
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