CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Metropolitan School District confirms it will consider changing the names of five schools who currently bear the monikers of those with seemingly controversial legacies, including former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.
An ad hoc working group appointed back in June reviewed the names of all of the city's 90-plus buildings and submitted five for further consideration, with the Board of Education approving a resolution authorizing more discussion. The schools that will get a closer look are:
- Albert Bushnell Hart PreK-8 School
- Louis Agassiz PreK-8 School
- Luis Munoz Marin PreK-8 School
- Patrick Henry PreK-8 School
- Thomas Jefferson PreK-9 International Newcomers Academy
While Henry and Jefferson are both Founding Fathers who played starring roles in the founding of the United States, both were also slaveholders, a fact that has made it way more into the public eye in the wake of America's reckoning with racism following the murder of George Floyd last year. In addition, Agassiz's accomplishments in science were clouded by his own racist views, Munoz Marin's tenure as Governor of Puerto Rico was tarnished by his suppression of the island's nationalist movement, and even Hart wrote of what he believed to be the "inferiority" of Blacks despite his support of former student W.E.B. Du Bois.
While the board has not yet officially decided if the names will be changed, newly approved guidelines for possible different names prohibits the consideration of people "who have a documented history of enslaving other humans, or have actively participated in the institution of slavery, systemic racism, the oppression … of people of color, women or other minority groups, or who have been a member of a supremist organization." Over the ensuing months, CMSD will continue engaging with the working group as well as members of the community, and it is possible more schools could be looked at.
Read the full re-naming criteria here: