DANA Poll on School 18 Name and Thoughts
At the Neighborhood Night Out an unscientific poll was taken regarding the naming of school 18. There were 31 individual votes were cast. Many with voters names attached. All with different handwriting and crayon color which is how we can be sure it was a fair election process! (Maybe DANA could get a lucrative consulting contract with the Board of Elections?) [language borrowed from another report here].
Delaware Elementary School 11
Delaware Community School 10
Delaware Amistad School 4
Delaware Neighborhood Elementary School 1
Delaware Avenue Elementary School 1
Virgina Bowers Elementary School 1
Art Mitchell School 1
School 18 1
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The process of naming of the school has not been a process that has been inclusive of the community in which the school is located. People I know who heard about the meetings heard about them the day of or the day before. Notice was belated shared by email with some but that was not from the committee but from other sources in the community. This neighborhood list caried some of the information. I have heard that some people commented "What's wrong with the present name?" People in the immediate vacintity of the school by and large do not know the school is being re-named. I have the impression that a few teachers who are part of the dual language program are very excited about the use of the name Amistad because it means friendship and thus will apeal to the spanish language community. That's fine. But the majority of the students who attend will not be spanish language students.
I believe our community misses a lot when it forgets its history. I also think people appreciate tangible people who they can conceptually grasp. While the story of the Amistad can communicate a lot of good concepts I think naming the school after a figure like Art Mitchell or Marion Hughes would be more meaningful to a larger part of the community.
One of the real problems with where things stand today is the lack of discipline and citizenship among a large part of the student population. You see it every day when kids "act up" at school or in the neighborhood. You see it every day when kids throw trash on the streets. I think naming the school after someone who captures those values is a better move than naming it after a historical event that has to be explained every time you bring it up.
Delaware Elementary School 11
Delaware Community School 10
Delaware Amistad School 4
Delaware Neighborhood Elementary School 1
Delaware Avenue Elementary School 1
Virgina Bowers Elementary School 1
Art Mitchell School 1
School 18 1
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The process of naming of the school has not been a process that has been inclusive of the community in which the school is located. People I know who heard about the meetings heard about them the day of or the day before. Notice was belated shared by email with some but that was not from the committee but from other sources in the community. This neighborhood list caried some of the information. I have heard that some people commented "What's wrong with the present name?" People in the immediate vacintity of the school by and large do not know the school is being re-named. I have the impression that a few teachers who are part of the dual language program are very excited about the use of the name Amistad because it means friendship and thus will apeal to the spanish language community. That's fine. But the majority of the students who attend will not be spanish language students.
I believe our community misses a lot when it forgets its history. I also think people appreciate tangible people who they can conceptually grasp. While the story of the Amistad can communicate a lot of good concepts I think naming the school after a figure like Art Mitchell or Marion Hughes would be more meaningful to a larger part of the community.
One of the real problems with where things stand today is the lack of discipline and citizenship among a large part of the student population. You see it every day when kids "act up" at school or in the neighborhood. You see it every day when kids throw trash on the streets. I think naming the school after someone who captures those values is a better move than naming it after a historical event that has to be explained every time you bring it up.
posted by paul at
9:10 AM
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