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The Merrillville School Board voted Tuesday to name two facilities after trailblazing women connected to the district.

A special education center inside its own wing at Pierce Middle School will be called the Judy C. Dunlap Pirate Academy and sports fields and tennis courts on the high school’s athletic campus will honor retired athletic director Janice Qualizza.

Dunlap, who’s a school board member, started her education career as a special education teacher in 1987. She later became a dean and principal in the Gary Community School Corp.

Dunlap is the first Black resident elected to the school board and later became the first Black woman elected president of the board.

She also served on the Northwest Indiana Special Education Cooperative

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