Columbus Name Change Inches Forward In Contentious Meeting

MEDFORD, MA — Medford Public Schools is now accepting applications for an advisory committee to review renaming options for the Columbus Elementary School. The School Committee voted to create the committee following a marathon – and at times, contentious – meeting March 10.

"There will certainly still be part of our population which disagrees with the change altogether, no matter what we say or do," School Committee member Paulette Van der Kloot said Wednesday. "And that is because they feel that something is being taken away from them."

Renaming the school has remained divisive since the School Committee approved the change last June. Van der Kloot said members have received 96 letters and one petition with 396 signatures in support of the change, versus three letters and a petition with 650 signatures against it.

Some of the pushback has come from Medford's Italian-American residents, who feel an icon is being stripped from them.

"It isn't just about being Italian and taking it away from the Italian community," Medford resident Sharon Deyeso said. "It's like a witch hunt."

Deyeso cited the push to remove Confederate monuments and re-examine historical figures being honored in other communities: "Somebody must've said oh, we better start looking in Medford."

Residents also criticized moving forward with the renaming as the district works to accelerate the return to in-person learning for students.

"I do understand where everyone is coming from," former School Committee member Ann Marie Cugno said. "My standpoint is with the commissioner of education giving you guys the schedule of when our children are supposed to be going back to school, there is so much to be really considered."

School Committee member Paul Ruseau, who, along with Melanie McLaughlin and Mea Mustone, introduced the resolution to rename the school, received some of the more pointed attacks at Wednesday night's meeting. Ruseau's comment last June that he would vote on the issue "if literally every person who wrote to me said do not change that name" rankled fervent opponents of the switch.

"I'm talking to you Mr. Ruseau, I'm talking to you," resident Diane Abramson said. "Because I find your behavior reprehensible. And I just simply cannot understand what is going on in the city of Medford, what is happening to the common sense of the School Committee."

Ruseau drew a distinction between educating students about historical atrocities and honoring the people who committed them. He brought up sanitizing the Holocaust for younger students in response to questions over how the district can be comfortable teaching children about Columbus but not naming a school for him.

"When we teach kids about the Holocaust in our education system, I don't think we actually teach our first-graders about the ovens," Ruseau said. "I'm hoping that's not what's happening in our first-grade classrooms, but we do teach it. But we also don't name anything after those people."

In order to accurately educate students about Christopher Columbus, teachers would have to explain to third-grade girls "how they were sold into sex slavery," Ruseau said.

"That is not a real curriculum where I would send my kids to Columbus Elementary School if that was what we were teaching them," he said. "And that is what we would have to teach them if we taught them the truth."

Ruseau also hit back against claims that he was "leading all these women on the committee to slaughter."

"It's so obviously sexism it's beyond comprehension," he said. "Each of these people have voted their own way."

Many residents also spoke in favor of the change. Former Columbus PTO member Rachel Rockenmacher applauded the School Committee for tackling the issue. She said when her child attended the school, there were students who refused to buy tee shirts and gear that bore the Columbus name.

"I think it's important not to honor people who don't deserve to be honored," Rockenmacher said. "It's nothing against Italians or Italian-Americans. There are plenty of other Italian-Americans or Italians to honor."

Kelly Cunha said as an Italian-American and longtime Medford resident she supports the name change. Her 3 1/2-year-old daughter already knows that Columbus "wasn't a good guy," as did her 92-year-old grandmother, she added.

"It doesn't mean that [Columbus] is gone forever," Cunha said. "We can still learn about him. There's lots to be discussed in historical context that is important. But that doesn't mean that he needs to be lauded on a school name."

The School Committee voted to establish the Columbus Elementary School Renaming Advisory Committee, which will review all suggestions made by residents and select three finalists for consideration.

The School Committee is expected to vote on a new name this spring.

Those interested in being considered for a seat on the Columbus Elementary School Renaming Advisory Committee should fill out this form or contact the office of the superintendent to receive a print copy.

Applicants may also complete this voluntary demographics survey, the information of which will not be used in the determination of the committee.

Residents are invited to submit suggested new names for the Columbus Elementary School by completing this form, regardless of whether they wish to serve on the committee. Print copies of the form are available by contacting the office of the superintendent.

All applications to serve on the committee and suggestions for new names must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 16.