In a unanimous decision at their virtual March 18 meeting, the Charles County Board of Education decided on a name for the new elementary school in White Plains that will open at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
Elementary School 23, which is under construction off of St. Charles Parkway in White Plains, will be named Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School.
The recommendation for the name came from a committee assembled by a staff liaison appointed by Superintendent Maria V. Navarro.
The committee consisted of staff members recommended by principals leading schools in the area of Elementary School 23, as well as parent and community member representatives who were chosen randomly through an interest form process.
After gathering community input and sentiment, the names Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School, White Plains Elementary School and Ronald E. McNair Elementary School were put forward by the committee.
Margaret Jamieson Thornton was a lifelong educator and resident of Charles County who was educated in Port Tobacco’s one-room schoolhouse until sixth grade. She attended Bel Alton Junior Senior High School, where she graduated as a junior, according to documents presented to the school board.
Thornton completed her senior year at Dunbar Senior High School and obtained her master’s degree equivalent in early childhood education from Bowie State Teachers College.
She began teaching at Port Tobacco Elementary School and held positions at Bel Alton Junior Senior High School, Indian Head Elementary School and Gale-Bailey Elementary School.
Thornton was a proponent of early childhood education and lobbied for the Charles school board to change its early education policy to include kindergarten. Once kindergarten was offered, Thornton became one of the first kindergarten teachers in the system.
Thornton’s career with Charles County Public Schools was over 30 years long before she died in 1997.
“Candidly, of the three, Margret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School stood out the most to me,” Chairperson Yonelle Moore Lee said in a phone interview with Southern Maryland News. “I feel very good about the choice. … It was one of the easiest decisions I think we’ve had.”
At a school board meeting last week, the board approved the administrative appointment of McKenna Lewis as the director of elementary education. Her appointment is effective July 1.
Lewis is currently principal at Heather Hills Elementary School with Prince George’s County Public Schools. She will replace current Director of Elementary Education Meighan Hungerford, who has announced her plans to retire at the end of this school year.
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