This seems a little premature:

Barack Obama Elementary would be the name of a new Prince George’s County school in Upper Marlboro under a proposal set for a vote tomorrow night.

Can you imagine what the choir would be like?

Still, I sorta like the impulse. Nowadays, not enough schools are named after actual people. Instead, they often get generic, suburuban-neighborhood names such as “Forest Park” and “Oak Knoll” and so on. That’s because timid, p.c.-leaning school boards want to avoid the controversies that otherwise may ensue. George Washington Elementary? Slaveholder!

As a matter of propriety, it’s probably best to name schools after people only when they’re dead, or at least in their dotage. This avoids the difficulty of having to deal with Mark Sanford Middle School, which I hope does not exist. But in general, naming schools after actual Americans is a fine idea — an old practice worth reviving.