Daniel Boone Elementary will likely bear a different name when the West Ridge school marks its 100th anniversary in a few years.
Boone’s Local School Council decided in January to ax its frontiersman namesake after the Chicago Public Schools equity office determined slave owner Daniel Boone was a “historically egregious figure.” Boone is moving forward with the name change as CPS drafts a policy for schools that want to dump names and mascots tied to slavery, racism and misogyny.
CPS spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the proposed districtwide rules — which have been in the works for several months — are expected to come before the Chicago Board of Education this spring after a public comment period. The school, meanwhile, launched a survey to solicit community input on a new name and scheduled an in-person forum for 4 p.m. Wednesday for parents, guardians, staff and community members who are Black, Indigenous or people of color.
School administrators told families last week that students will conduct research to help their class propose a school name. Suitable nominations are slated to be presented to the community at the end of the month.
“It’s a pretty involved curriculum to help the kids engage in the process and really feel like it’s not just, ‘I’m voting for something random,’ but ‘I understand the importance of a name and how a name needs to depict who we are,'” parent Cassandra Kaczocha said. “So, who are we? What are our values?”
No one seems to know why the school at Washtenaw Avenue and Pratt Boulevard is named for Boone, a folk hero who is recognized for guiding settlers into Kentucky, but not for any meaningful ties to Chicago. A 1965 baiduhai series that explored the namesakes of Chicago schools noted that “Boone never came as far north as Chicago in his travels.”
Dona Vitale, outreach chair of the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society, suspects Boone was picked because he was a respected historical figure when the school opened in 1928. He had died more than a hundred years earlier, in 1820, with tales of his courage and hunting prowess memorialized in music and poetry.
Around 1964, the elementary school’s leaders devised a code of conduct inspired by Boone, advising students to practice “truth in thought” and “honesty in actions,” the Tribune reported at the time. “The school’s second rule, ‘We believe in the worth and dignity of every individual’ would also please the man who befriended more Indians than he fought,” the Tribune wrote.
The thinking on Boone has changed, at least at CPS. The district’s equity office is supporting a new name because of Boone’s “relationship with native/Indigenous colonization and dehumanization as well as being a slave owner of African American people,” read a note sent to school families a few months ago. Boone is said to have owned seven slaves.
Paul Zavitkovsky, who was principal from 1991 to 2001, said the name change is long overdue.
“When I was a principal there, we tried for a little while to find some kind of authentic fit between who Daniel Boone was and what he represented and the life experiences of over 1,100 first- and second-generation immigrant kids from over 40 language communities,” Zavitkovsky said.
“It was just too big a stretch. It’s just so far you can go with a concept like frontier spirit or some other stuff we were considering when it’s attached to a guy who owned slaves and took it for granted that he was entitled to confiscate land from Indigenous people in the name of needing more elbow room.”
Of the school’s 737 students, 40% are Latino; nearly 34% are Asian; 14% white; and 10% Black, according to CPS data for the 2021-22 school year. Students are known as “Boonies.”
Zavitkovsky said he didn’t hear anyone raise issue with the name during his time there. Boone alumna Mari-Ann Marx said she was not aware of the explorer’s troubled past until recently. She said she’s not really attached to the Boone name, and she recognizes the need for a new one.
“I think it’s a fine thing to do if people understand the reason why you’re changing it,” said Marx, who graduated from the school in 1958.
A school rebranding would likely take several months. CPS said under the current rules a new school name would not go to the Board of Education for approval before March 2023, but that timeline could change if a new policy is established.
Under the policy adopted in March 2003, two school community meetings must be held before the Local School Council considers three names.
A school can honor a person, place or thing, but not someone whose primary identification is of a religious nature, nor someone who is related to an employee or LSC member tied to the school.
Nominees should have made “significant contributions” to society and must be dead for at least six months. The school principal and LSC chairperson offer a joint recommendation of the new name.
Fergus said CPS is working to ensure a new policy prioritizes input from students and affected community members.
Two Chicago schools recently adopted new names. Louis Agassiz Elementary School and Andrew Jackson Language Academy last year transformed into Harriet Tubman Elementary School and Chicago World Language Academy, respectively.
Lane Tech College Prep, meanwhile, announced last month it is naming its field for alumnus Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard, recognized as pro football’s first Black coach.
Boone boasts at least two prominent alumni. Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey and her late brother, George Halas Jr., attended the school, a team spokesman confirmed to the Tribune.
It’s unclear if CPS’ proposed policy would allow for a living person to be nominated. Marx suggested honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Zavitkovsky mentioned Fred Hess, who pioneered school reform in Chicago before his 2006 death.
West Ridge “is not the same community that it once was, and the school needs to represent the aspirations of the community,” Zavitkovsky said. “And I don’t think Daniel Boone is a figure that will inspire those aspirations, honestly.”