Chicago Public Schools leaders and elected officials unveiled new signage at Harriet Tubman Elementary School on Monday as the Lakeview school continues to distance itself from its prior namesake, the racist scientist Louis Agassiz.
The Chicago Board of Education approved the name change in March 2021, months after the Chicago Sun-Times identified some 30 Chicago schools named for slaveholders and several other schools that bear the name of someone who held racist or misogynistic attitudes. CPS administrators have vowed to consider a change if a school is named after “individuals who do not represent the values of our students, families, faculty and support staff.”
In June 2021, the district celebrated ditching Agassiz in favor of Tubman, an abolitionist and human rights advocate whose 200th birthday is being commemorated this year.
Other CPS schools are still waiting for their new names. At last month’s board meeting, a junior at John Hancock College Prep noted longtime, widespread student support to dump Hancock, who had slaves. The junior blamed “the pace that CPS moves” for the inaction.
“We ask that you give all 35 schools, including ours, the opportunity to expedite the name-changing process and collaborate with our peers and community to declare a new name that better represents who we are and what we truly value,” the student told the board.
After the student spoke, outgoing Interim Chief Education Officer Maurice Swinney said the proposed rules for changing a school’s name are due to come before the board at its February meeting, which is scheduled for Feb. 23.
“We do have some schools that are doing the work (to change their name). What we wanted to do was center the voice of young people in the policy,” Swinney said. “Part of our work has been talking with young people, so that … students who decide to participate in the name change process are the ones who can help lead it in their schools.”