The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
To preserve history or change it?
Legality of middle school naming committee called into question
MIDDLETOWN — Former and current city officials are questioning the legality of a middle school committee following its naming suggestion for a new combined facility now under construction.
However, the panel’s leader said not only was the group empowered by the Board of Education, but there is an established history for its charge.
The naming committee was formed April 10 by the Board of Education. Opposition arose, primarily from graduates of Woodrow Wilson high and middle schools, who say losing the name would erase the historic value, pride and sense of identity felt by thousands of graduates.
Institutions across the nation named after the former president have come under fire in recent years because of his segregationist views. Woodrow Wilson taught history at Wesleyan University from 1888 to 1890 and lived in Middletown during that time.
He also founded Wesleyan’s debate club, and supported Wesleyan’s football team.
“The Board of Eeducation has named both the stage at Farm Hill School and the Performing Arts Center at Middletown High through this exact same process. There is certainly precedence for the process of the board of ed establishing a naming committee,” said Chairwoman Lisa LoomisDavin.
At its July meeting, the panel polled members on names presented. The top choice was Beman Middle School, with 24 votes, followed by Beman-Douglas Middle School (12), Mattabesset (nine), Keigwin (six), Middletown Middle School (six), Willard McRae (four), Veterans Memorial (three), Christine LaRosa and North Star (both one vote).
The Rev. Jehiel Beman, Jesse Baldwin and Benjamin Douglas formed the Middletown AntiSlavery Society in 1834.
Middletown was a major port in the West Indies sugar and slave trade and some city men sailed to Africa to buy slaves, according to the naming committee. Beman founded the precursor to the Cross Street AME Zion Church, and was a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
The project will see Ida Keigwin sixthgraders moved to Wilson, joining seventh and eighthgraders. Officials haven’t yet determined a use for Keigwin once construction is complete.
Phase 1 of the $87.35 million construction project, the demolition, will be done by the time students return to classes in two weeks, according to Woodrow Wilson Middle School Building Committee Chairwoman and Common Councilor Mary Bartolotta.
The construction debris will be gone by Aug. 29, she said.
Over the summer, the auditorium and administrative office were knocked down. The latter will be located elsewhere in the building, and school officials are still deciding where assemblies will be held.
Former common councilwoman Hope Kasper, Common Council Minority Leader Sebastian N. Giuliano and others have raised the question as to whether the naming panel is a legal entity under state statute.
Giuliano said such committees are created and their duties defined by ordinance, with members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by council.
These panels must follow state laws on majority/ minority representation.
“From what I can see, the naming committee, such as it is, it doesn’t follow any of that,” Giuliano said.
Kasper, a Woodrow Wilson High School grad running for Common Council on the Republican ticket, wonders why keeping Wilson on the building wasn’t considered.
“I don’t think the name should be changed at all, and I don’t think, under the ordinance, the board has the authority to make that determination,” she said.
She’s also very concerned with the costs associated with such an action: for example, new school stationery, sports uniforms and possible associated costs for parents, signage, and anything else that carries the Wilson name.
Kasper researched other municipalities that have done similar things and discovered the cost was “$40,000 and up.”
Giuliano thinks the naming process is being conducted backward.
“Who wasn’t racist 100 years ago by today’s standards? But there’s something very wrong about using 100 years of hindsight — which Woodrow Wilson did not have the benefit of. He did have the benefit of 100 years of history that has transpired past his time,” he said.
He proposed a solution to the naming, which would retain the Wilson name.
The combined facility will be located on the front lawn of the current middle school. The pool and gymnasiums will be turned over to the city’s recreation division.
He suggests that site, including the new Pat Kidney Complex, be named “Beman Plaza” and the recreation area carry the late Tom Serra’s name.
The longtime council majority leader and former mayor died in February of pancreatic cancer.
Meanwhile, Loomis is waiting for BOE Chairman Chris Drake to schedule a meeting so school board members can review the committee’s findings, hear public comment, vote, and present the resolution to the council.
Drake said he is out of the state, and could not comment for the story because of spotty cellphone service.
The Common Council is not bound to consider the panel’s recommendation, Giuliano said. “From what I can see, they haven’t followed one law.”
There are a total of 15 members on the naming panel, 10 of whom are Democrats, two Republicans, three unaffiliated, and two students. A teacher, administrator, parent and student from both Keigwin and Woodrow Wilson, two board of ed members and five from the community were chosen, Loomis said.
Giuliano said minority representation cannot include minors, who can’t cast votes.
“That would be great if you could get around minority/majority limitations in state statutes by putting a bunch of people on the minority side who are legally incapable of voting for anything.
“That’s absurd if that’s an interpretation of that law,” said Giuliano, also an attorney.
Loomis countered by saying middle schoolers are voting members, not student representatives to the panel.
“The state statute doesn’t address the age of committee members or anything to that effect. Those students get the same right to vote on the name as everyone else. Having that student voice we thought was very important,” she said.
Loomis has posted on the BOE website a naming committee summary statement, information on the antislavery society, as well as the history of both Ida Keigwin, Woodrow Wilson High School, the former junior high school, and current middle school; and written and oral testimony made to the panel.
“I put in a lot of work to ensure that every bit of public input that we got was represented on the website for everybody to see,” she said.
Once the school board meets, makes its decision and proposes a resolution, the earliest it could be considered by the council would be at the September meeting, Giuliano said.
Hearings could be scheduled for October and November and the panel would vote on the proposal in November.
“That’s the outgoing council. I’m just taking a wild guess here, but I don’t think they’re going to want to touch that with a 10foot pole on their way out the door,” Giuliano said.