- Cleveland Metropolitan School District
- School Naming Review
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School Naming Review
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Click on a name below to see a brief biography of the individual the school is named after.
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Albert Bushnell Hart (still under consideration)
Albert Bushnell Hart (1854-1943) was a historian and belonged to the first generation of professionally-trained historians in the United States. Originally from Pennsylvania, Hart grew up in Cleveland and graduated from West High School. A faculty member at Harvard University for forty-three years, Hart occasionally served as the advisor for Black students, including civil rights activist and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois. Hart continued to support Du Bois’ work throughout his life. Hart also served as a trustee of Howard University, a historically Black university.
While at Harvard, Hart publicly opposed the university’s policy of banning Black students from the dormitories. However, in Hart’s letter opposing this policy, he wrote: “I have been convinced for years . . . that the Negro race, as a race, is inferior to the white, and that a mixture of the races in the South or elsewhere would mean a decline in civilization. Furthermore, I have felt and said in my book [The Southern South], that I feel the South was justified in using whatever means were necessary to prevent a union of the races.”
During the Brownsville affair (1906), an incident of racial discrimination when white residents of Brownsville, Texas, accused the members of the African-American 25th Infantry Regiment of violence against two white men, Hart believed the Black soldiers were guilty. He wrote to President Theodore Roosevelt and applauded Roosevelt’s decision to discharge the African- American troops without honor, despite the assertions of white commanders that all members of the regiment had been in the barracks when the violence occurred. In his letter to Roosevelt, Hart wrote: “I feel a profound interest in the welfare and in the future of the Negro race and nobody resents more strongly any injustice done to that race.” Roosevelt’s decision cost 167 men their pensions and prevented them from serving in federal civil service jobs.
Race and gender identity: white, male
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Mary Church Terrell (formerly Louis Agassiz)
Louis Agassiz (1807-1873)
Louis Agassiz was a Swiss biologist and geologist who contributed to the fields of zoology and geology and founded the study of glaciology. Agassiz resisted accepting Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution even after it was generally accepted by the scientific community. Agassiz also subscribed to the theory of polygenism, a belief that human races had different origins and were genetically distinct. To support this theory, Agassiz used racist reasoning and argued that non-white races were inferior to whites. Agassiz’s theories were often used by slaveholders and white supremacists to defend their beliefs. While a professor at Harvard University (1847-73), Agassiz tried to prevent Jewish and Irish students from enrolling.
Race and gender identity: white, male
Mary Church Terrell (1863 –1954)
Mary Church Terrell was an internationally-known lecturer, educator, and activist for racial equality and women’s rights. The child of parents who had been enslaved, she was one of the first Black women in the United States to earn Bachelor of Arts (1884) and Master of Arts (1888) degrees, both from Oberlin College in Ohio. Terrell taught at Wilberforce College (now University) in Ohio and the M Street School (now Paul Laurence Dunbar High School) in Washington, DC. She was the first Black woman in the United States to serve on a board of education (1896-1901, 1906-11). She also proposed and implemented an annual day honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass in the Washington, DC, public schools—this celebration later inspired the creation of Black History Month.Terrell was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement and the women’s club movement (a national movement of women working to better their communities before they had received the right to vote). Terrell regularly addressed national suffrage conventions and was one of the only Black women who picketed outside the White House to demand women’s suffrage. She also worked to educate white suffragists about the racist laws that had been implemented to prevent Black men from voting. In 1896, Terrell was one of the founders and the first president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)—the first secular national organization dedicated to improving the lives of Black women and children. In her work for the NACW, Terrell fought Jim Crow laws, worked toward the creation of a federal anti-lynching law, and established numerous kindergartens for Black children throughout the country.At the age of 86, Terrell led the fight against segregation in stores and restaurants in Washington, DC, picketing lunch counters and leading boycotts. Her work led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co.(1953) that segregation in Washington’s restaurants was unconstitutional. This decision set a precedent for Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ruled segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.Race and gender identity: Black, female -
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (formerly Patrick Henry)
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Patrick Henry was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774, 1775) and as Governor of Virginia (1776-79, 1784-86). Despite speaking publicly against slavery, Henry enslaved people throughout his adult life and stated it would be a “general inconvenience” not to enslave people. At the time of his death, Henry enslaved a total of 112 people. He willed sixty-seven enslaved people to his wife and sons rather than emancipating them. Henry also opposed the adoption of the Constitution of the United States on the grounds that Northerners would use the new powers of Congress to abolish slavery.
Race and gender identity: white, male
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (1949 – 2008)Stephanie Tubbs Jones was the first Black woman from Ohio elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1999-2008). She was a graduate of Cleveland public schools and Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law (1974). Tubbs Jones worked as the assistant prosecutor for Cuyahoga County (1976-9), judge for the Cleveland Municipal Court, judge for the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas (1983-91), and Chief Prosecutor of Cuyahoga County (1991-9). She was the first Black prosecutor in Ohio and one of the first Black women to become the prosecutor of a major city in the United States.While in Congress Tubbs Jones wrote and supported legislation focused on children, education, and healthcare, and she fought against predatory lending practices. She authored the Child Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Act (1999) and supported expanding healthcare coverage for low-income people and research into medical issues that disproportionately affect Black women. Tubbs Jones also promoted programs supporting the re-entry of formerly incarcerated people into their communities. While serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, she supported Social Security, Medicare, and progressive pension laws.Race and gender identity: Black, female -
Natividad Pagan International Newcomers Academy (formerly Thomas Jefferson)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Thomas Jefferson was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and third president of the United States (1801-09). He also served as second vice president of the United States (1797-1801) and the first secretary of state (1790-93). He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson opposed slavery and advocated for gradual abolition while also enslaving over 600 people throughout his life. He believed that Blacks were racially inferior to whites and advocated that emancipated Blacks should be deported to Africa or the West Indies. Jefferson was the father of at least six children with Sally Hemings, the enslaved half-sister of Jefferson’s wife, Martha. Jefferson continued to hold his children with Hemings in bondage. Although historians are conflicted over the nature of Jefferson and Hemings’ relationship, as an enslaved woman, Sally Hemings had no legal rights.
Race and gender identity: white, male
Natividad Pagán (1949 – 2016)Natividad Pagán was an educator, administrator, and community leader in Cleveland. A graduate of Cleveland’s public schools, Pagán began her career as an elementary, bilingual and ESL teacher in Puerto Rico and Boston, Massachusetts. She served many in many roles within Cleveland’s public schools, including Executive Director of Multilingual Education and Principal at Joseph Gallagher and the Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy. She also helped establish the Multilingual Education Program throughout the district and the models for Buhrer Dual Language School and the International Newcomers Academy. In addition to championing bilingual education and advocating for English-language learners, Pagán fostered cultural pride within Cleveland’s public schools.Pagán was an active leader in Cleveland’s community and was passionate about educating young people about Latinx history and heritage. She served as President of Esperanza Inc., the Spanish American Committee, and the Ohio Latino Arts Association. She also co-founded the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center and served as its president for over seventeen years.Ethnicity and gender identity: Latina, female
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Community Meeting Dates
SchoolMeeting RecordingsOnline SuggestionRationaleRanking FormFinal Process SummaryMarch 2022Louis Agassiz3595 Bosworth Rd.The Suggestion and Name Ranking Forms are now closed.Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy3145 W 46th St.The Suggestion and Name Ranking Forms are now closed.Albert Bushnell Hart3900 E 75th St.The Suggestion and Ranking Form are now closed.Summary Slidedeck Patrick Henry11901 Durant Ave.The Suggestion Form and Ranking Form are now closed.
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School Naming Criteria
The following school naming criteria were approved by the Board of Education at the Sep. 21, 2021 Board Business Meeting and are intended to provide guidance to community members and community committees whose input is solicited regarding the name of specific Cleveland Metropolitan School District school buildings or facilities in accordance with Board Policy FF (Naming District Buildings).
Strategy for School Naming Decisions
General School/Facility Naming Criteria
- The Board desires school/facility names that will build community over generations.
- The Board will consider school/facility names of neighborhoods, geographical or geological features, floral and fauna (wildlife), that represent general features of the area around the school as well as the names of persons.
- The Board wishes to avoid school/facility names that will likely present pronunciation challenges for students, families, or members of the school community.
School/Facility Naming Criteria related to the names of people
- The Board will consider the names of persons who have been deceased for a minimum of five (5) years and whose biography has been thoroughly and adequately researched by a trained public historian/historical consultant.
- The Board will consider the names of persons who are recognized by the general public and widely respected, who embody exemplary qualities that can serve as models of excellence, and who have made significant contributions to our nation, state or local community, with a preference for persons whose contributions were specific to Cleveland and/or the Cleveland Municipal School District.
- While the Board is happy to accept financial gifts as part of the school naming process, no school/facility will be named after an individual/entity solely for the purpose of accepting a financial gift. In general, names that are considered in conjunction with a proposed financial gift should only be considered for a specific portion of a building (e.g., gymnasium, library) and not the entire school/facility itself.
- The Board will consider the names of religious leaders as long as the individual’s contributions extend beyond religious actions.
- The Board will not consider the names of persons who have a documented history of enslaving other humans, or have actively participating in the institution of slavery, systemic racism, the oppression (the inequitable use of authority, law, or physical force to prevent others from being free or equal) of people of color, women, or other minority groups, or who have been a member of a supremacist organization.
Timeline of Process
July-August 2021
Work Group develops criteria, bios
September 2021
Board approves criteria for naming schools
October 2021
Work Group finalizes list of schools to be further reviewed
December 2021
Board approves list of schools to be further reviewed
January - April 2022
Collect and synthesize public input and feedback
April - May 2022
Board review naming recommendations