A school in the Madison Metropolitan School District now carries the name of Ada Deer Elementary School, named for the prominent Menominee scholar, activist, and civil servant.
The school board decision was announced Aug. 24. Three schools were given name changes, including the former Conrad A. Elvehjem Elementary School.
The name change is effective with the 2026-27 academic year.
As the force behind the Menominee Restoration Act, Deer won back federally recognized status and sovereignty for the tribe. She would go on to become the first woman to lead the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Deer was also the first member of the Menominee Tribe to earn an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the first Native American to receive a master of social work degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work, the first woman to chair the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin and the first Indigenous woman in Wisconsin to run for United States Congress.
