OUR VIEW: Wrong name for new stadium School Board should name something else for Arrington It is long past time for the Kenosha Unified School District to name something for the Rev. Olen Arrington Jr. Arrington, who died in 2010, was a religious and educational leader, the first black member of the Kenosha Unified School Board and the founder of Kindness Week, Kenosha’s unique tribute to the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. But the new sports stadium at Bradford High School is not the right facility to bear his name. Arrington made a great contribution to the entire community, but he has no particular connection to Bradford High School. The point of building this stadium was to provide something that was “all Bradford” after decades of the school sharing sports facilities in the shadows of other schools. It isn’t right for the Bradford athletes and fans, after finally getting their own stadium, to have it named after a community-wide figure rather than someone with direct ties to their school. There is another reason why Arrington’s name isn’t right for the stadium. In addition to his work as an educator in Waukegan, Ill., and as the pastor of Second Baptist Church in Kenosha, Arrington was a civil rights leader in Kenosha and a political pioneer. In these roles, he left a lasting legacy. Is a sports facility the appropriate place to honor him? It would be far better to name a school for him or even the school administration building. The School Board, which voted 3-2 Tuesday to name the stadium for Arrington, should reconsider. One of the three board members in the majority would have to ask for the issue to be considered again, but such an action could have positive effects. First, it would acknowledge that the process by which Arrington’s name was selected was very awkward. The School Board appointed a committee to recommend one name, not a list of names. The committee actually considered Arrington’s name but voted by a large margin in favor of naming the stadium for Mary D. Bradford. What was the point of the committee voting if the School Board was going to go in its own direction? The name the committee chose isn’t ideal, either. Mary D. Bradford, an education pioneer and superintendent of schools in Kenosha from 1910-1921, is already well-honored here with a church and a high school named after her. It’s redundant to have the sports stadium named after the same person as the school. But for now it is a safe choice, one that could be revisited later without great difficulty. It is also an unarguably “Bradford” choice. That’s what the alumni and fans of the high school should have. We’d like to see the School Board reconsider the stadium name and to find something else, something that better fits his contributions to the community, to name for the Rev. Olen Arrington Jr.