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Debate to change school name opens
Does a curator trump a patriot?
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| | | By Arlene Gross | | |
February 14, 2008 | 02:01 PM
The idea of renaming Woodhull Intermediate School after the Huntington school district's curator, Jack Abrams, met with both reluctance and gusto at Monday night's board meeting.
"Since this proposal has become public, we have become inundated with many more responses," said Keith Meyers, a Woodhull fifth-grade teacher who is on an ad hoc renaming committee.
In spite of the popular support, indicted partly by 200 letters from community members, school board members were lukewarm over the request, which came before them last month.
Trustee John Paci said he had received phone calls from people in the community expressing concerns with a renaming.
"What we're looking at is changing American history," Paci said. "Nathaniel Woodhull is obviously a revolutionary war hero. Personally, I have an issue with changing history."
Meyers, in retort, pleaded his case with apparent enthusiasm and deep conviction.
"You on the school board have tremendous power to make history," he said. "You can be the school board that was responsible for appropriately honoring and celebrating a very special and humble man, a man who has been an influence on so many others for 53 extraordinary years here in Huntington."
Board President Richard McGrath said, "We love Jack Abrams. The problem is, we're being asked to pull down a famous patriot off the building. And that's hard to do."
Paci suggested renaming the high school's Heritage Museum room after Abrams.
Another member of the renaming committee, Linda Guido — also a former board trustee —said that Abrams' name is synonymous with Woodhull.
"We appreciate your gesture to rename the Heritage room," she said, but noted that with facilities in flux, there is no way to ensure that the Heritage room would remain a permanent fixture at the high school.
Trustee Emily Rogan concurred with Paci. "I'm not very comfortable with changing the name for the same reasons John gave."
Guido then referred to Huntington Intermediate School, the meeting venue, and said, "May I ask you to consider renaming this building the Jack Abrams Intermediate School?"
Members of the public broke into applause at the mention. But McGrath answered pointedly that the board was there to discuss renaming Woodhull only.
Trustee Robert Lee pointed out the district's three other elementary schools — Southdown, Flower Hill and Huntington Intermediate — are not named after any historical figures.
Paci asked, "Are there any other options other than renaming a building?"
Guido said, "Honestly, no. We have a unique opportunity to do this for a great man who has given his whole life and his heart to Huntington. There's no other individual like him in the history of our district and that's the reason why we're asking you to consider the renaming."
Trustee Elizabeth Black suggested building a wall of honor in tribute to Abrams, who is a veteran of the U.S. Army Special Service and Signal Corps. Then, other Huntington students who have served in the military could be listed on the wall.
McGrath suggested revisiting the subject in March.
After the meeting, Meyers said, "We picked Woodhull because he is most closely linked with it. But he's a district figure. We would certainly accept another school. The ultimate goal is to honor Jack by putting his name on a building."
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