( CNN ) -- Tiburcio Vasquez , a 19th century outlaw , is remembered in historical accounts as a notorious criminal who terrorized southern California . But one school district in California wants to remember him another way : as a hero to the Hispanic community who fought back against injustice . The Alisal Union School District set off a controversy last month when it announced that an elementary school in Salinas to be opened this year will be named after Vasquez . The move has led some local leaders , including the Salinas mayor , to criticize the controversial choice . `` We had a young man killed in Afghanistan who was from the Alisal area . He would have been a nice person to name the school after , '' Mayor Joe Gunter said Wednesday . `` There 's a lot of good people we could name a school after , in my opinion . '' According to a biography culled together by the University of Southern California , Vasquez was `` probably the most notorious bandit California ever saw . '' Vasquez turned to a life of crime as a teenager and served time in San Quentin State Prison for stealing horses in the late 1850s , the biography states . He and his gang went into hiding in the canyons of Southern California after a `` string of infamous robberies and murders '' in 1873 , the biography says . Vasquez eventually was captured , convicted of murder and hanged . His does n't sound like a life to be emulated , but there is another side to his life story , said Francisco Estrada , a retired school teacher and member of the naming committee in the Alisal school district . Vasquez was a standout student from a very distinguished family , Estrada said . They had extensive land that was snatched from them after California became part of the United States . `` The community does not see Tiburcio as a thief or a murderer , '' Estrada said . `` We see him as a fighter for social justice of the Mexican-Californio whose rights have been deprived . '' Estrada said he believes that Vasquez was falsely accused of murder . An account of Vasquez 's life , written in 1948 by the Historical Society of Southern California , also hints at a more noble side of the bandit . `` It was well known that Vasquez was not a killer , that he repeatedly warned his followers not to kill , and his reluctance to take life , even when his own was in grave danger , was without doubt responsible for the remarkably few killings during his 23 years as an outlaw , '' the article said . The article continued : `` He hated the Americano with good reason and always in his mind was a thought , which had activated many of his race before him , that he could help get the Americans out and in some way regain California for Mexico . '' Both narratives of his life , whatever his motivations were , remain controversial . Monterey County Superintendent Nancy Kotowski , who oversees the Alisal Union School District , said naming decisions fall solely to the local school board . Kotowski questioned the choice of name . `` This is an elementary school , pre-school to grade 6 . The appropriate procedure would be to first clarify the historical record before naming a school after a controversial figure , '' she said . In a statement , the county Office of Education cited high rates of youth violence and murder in Salinas . Estrada called it `` ridiculous '' to link the name of the new school to violence in the community . `` What the mainstream calls a murderer and a thief was actually an outstanding individual who was highly educated , cultured and embraced the fine arts , '' he said . The school , which is scheduled to open in the fall , would not be the first institution to be named after Vasquez . A clinic in Alameda County that provides care for the uninsured is called the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center .
A new school in California is being named after a famous bandit . Tiburcio Vasquez is said to have been a notorious criminal . Supporters of the name say he stood up for marginalized Hispanics .