The Board of Education of Charles County at its March 18 work session approved the name of the next Charles County Public elementary school. The Board approved the name Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School for Elementary School 23. The school is currently under construction off St. Charles Parkway in White Plains and will open at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
Last month, the Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) elementary school naming committee presented to the Board three school name recommendations, one of which was Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School. Between December and January, the committee met several times to review school name submissions received from the community.
The committee narrowed the list down to three choices: Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School; Ronald E. McNair Elementary School; and White Plains Elementary School. Board of Education Policy 7230 guides the school naming process and outlines criteria that any school name recommendation must meet for the Board to consider it for a school, building or facility.
About Margaret Jamieson Thornton
Margaret Jamieson Thornton was a lifelong Charles County resident and educator with CCPS. Born in 1931, Thornton was educated in the one room schoolhouse in Port Tobacco until sixth grade and completed her high school studies at Bel Alton Junior Senior High School, where she graduated as a junior.
She completed her senior year at Dunbar Senior High School and earned a master’s degree equivalent in early childhood education from Bowie State Teachers College. Thornton began her teaching career at Port Tobacco Elementary School and also held positions at Bel Alton Junior Senior High School, Indian Head Elementary School and Gale-Bailey Elementary School.
Thornton was a strong supporter of early education and influential in lobbying that the Board of Education change its early education policy to include kindergarten. Once the Board of Education of Charles County changed its early education policy to offer kindergarten, Thornton became one of the system’s first kindergarten teachers. In 1968 while still teaching, Thornton and her husband founded a family business, Thornton Funeral Home. Thornton continued to teach while serving as the business vice president and CFO. Her career with CCPS spanned more than 30 years in working with young students. She passed away in 1997.
About the school naming process
Superintendent of Schools Maria V. Navarro, Ed.D., appointed a staff liaison to convene a school naming committee in 2023 to gather community input and present agreed upon name recommendations to the Board. The committee included staff members recommended by principals leading schools in the construction area of Elementary School 23, as well as parent and community member representatives who were randomly chosen through an interest form process.
The committee solicited name recommendations from the community through the CCPS website, press releases sent to local media outlets, email notifications sent to parents and staff members, and advertised the submission process on CCPS social media. A total of 50 name submissions were received.
From December 2023 through February 2024, the committee met to review and discuss approximately 50 names for consideration and voted on each name. The committee was tasked with reviewing each name against Board Policy 7230 criteria.
CCPS is currently overseeing a redistricting process in which a committee has developed attendance zone recommendations for the new elementary school. The redistricting committee shared its initial recommendations with the Board at its March 12 meeting. A copy of the presentation, as well as additional information related to the redistricting process, is posted on the CCPS website at https://www.ccboe.com/parents/redistricting-elementary-school.
