Board of Education of Charles County Changes Name of General Smallwood Middle School to Glymont Middle School, effective July 1

The Board of Education of Charles County at its April 28 work session approved the name Glymont Middle School to replace the name of General Smallwood Middle School. The name change takes effect July 1, 2025. General Smallwood Middle School will open for the 2025-2026 school year as Glymont Middle School.

Eight Board members voted in favor of the recommendation to rename General Smallwood Middle School as Glymont Middle School. Board Member Jamila Smith made a motion for the Board to act on the name recommendation of Glymont Middle School, which was seconded by Board Member Brenda Thomas. One Board member voted against the motion, and one member abstained from taking a vote on the recommendation.

Smith and Thomas serve as Board members in District 2 in Charles County, which is where General Smallwood Middle School is located. Earlier this month at the Board’s April 8 meeting, Smith and Thomas talked about the recommendation of Glymont Middle School and shared background about the name.

While making the motion about the name Glymont Middle School, Smith shared with her colleagues the history about the town of Glymont and how it once served as a popular river port destination in the late 1800s/early 1900s for the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Earlier this month, Thomas also shared history about the former Glymont School in Indian Head. Before the population shifted and bigger schools were built, there was a Glymont Colored School and Glymont Two-Room School, which was historically known as the Glymont Colored School, then the Glymont School and lastly as the Glymont Two-Room School.

According to “Our Legacy — One- and Two-Room Schools of Charles County,” edited by John and Roberta Wearmouth and published in 2009 by the Charles County Retired School Personnel Association (CCRSPA), the Glymont Colored School had an enrollment of about 38 to 40 students in Grades 1 through 7. Some students who attended Glymont School were driven there by a former ambulance donated by the U.S. Navy Yard, however most students walked to school. After the Glymont School burned down, the Glymont Two-Room School was built. The two-room school still stands and is now the Williams Funeral Home in Indian Head.

As part of Board of Education Policy 7230, a school renaming committee was formed in Fall 2024 to review name recommendations for the renaming of General Smallwood Middle School. The Board last year approved for Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) to move forward with renaming the school due to community concerns raised about the history of Gen. William Smallwood, who served as a general in the American Revolutionary War.

Community members submitted a total of 41 name recommendations for the committee to review, one of which was Glymont Middle School. The committee provided three name recommendations to the Board in March based on geographic regions and to represent both school and community pride.

The Board did not move forward with any of the committee’s name recommendations: Potomac Ridge, West Charles or West Side middle schools. Smith shared that Glymont Middle School stayed true to the committee’s efforts to rename the school for a geographical region with meaningful history rather than a person.

Given the Board’s action, CCPS is moving forward to implement the school’s name change to be effective July 1.

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