Community members begged the Charleston County School Board to preserve their request to name the new North Charleston middle school after Daniel Jenkins, but the recent death of local philanthropist Jerry Zucker led the board to toss aside the recommendation of a community naming committee to recognize Zucker with the schools name. Jenkins will instead be recognized in the naming of a wing of the school.
The choice pitted two notable supporters of public education. While Zucker’s donations over the past few decades are easily recognized (he and his wife have won Best Philanthropists in the City Paper’s Best of Charleston for years), Jenkins is most recognized for donating the land where the Murray Hill Academy now sits.
In the end, first-hand experience with Zucker seemed to win out over the century old contributions of Jenkins, with five of seven board members supporting the name. Ruth Jordan and Hillary Douglas voted against the naming. Toya Hampton-Green and Brian Moody were not present.
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