In 1917, suffragist Alice Paul asked “How long must we wait?” As Co-President of the PS9 Parent Teacher Organization, I am asking the same question.
Last year, the PTO voted to remove the name “Teunis G. Bergen” from the PS9 school name. March 1st is the deadline to submit the name change to the Chancellor. If we miss the deadline this year, then we’ll have to wait until March 1, 2020. Because women were finally given the right to vote in 1920 we certainly don’t want to miss out on the celebration of this 100th anniversary.
I ran for PTO Co-President on the platform of changing the school’s name, and now it is time to use that mandate to honor the neglected African-American suffrage movement in our neighborhood. The current proposal is to name PS9 after Sarah Smith Garnet, and the school community has univerally supported this neglected educational hero. As we have mentioned before, she was not only the first African American woman principal in New York, she also co-founded with her sister the first African-American woman’s suffrage club.
Have we discussed this enough? I have spoken to a few hundred people about this, and the vast majority want to move forward. A small number of parents have proposed a new subcommittee to further research the name change. My impression is that this is a minority view, but if you would like to study the issue more, please contact me immediately and let me know your opinion.
As a school community we already made the decision to remove Bergen’s name last year. Since then, we have had very few alternative names suggested, until my proposal of Sarah Smith Garnet. The other recommended names that I have heard are “The Prospect Hill School,” which is how people in the 1950s referred to us, “PS9 – A Whole Child School,” which represents our current philosophy, or using the name Aaron Copland, the famous composer who graduated from the school. However, Aaron Copland already has a school named after him as well as many other accolades. I like the idea of connecting our name to our location, so I see the appeal of the Prospect Hill name, but Sarah Smith Garnet was also associated with this neighborhood. I hope that using her name demonstrates our commitment to the Whole Child philosophy without using those words.
I say: Alice Paul was right. If anyone has alternative, now is the time. The clock is ticking. The people who prefer to delay this process now want a new subcommittee to discuss the name, weeks before the March 1 deadline. But then who is to be on that subcommittee? If there are any volunteers, please step forward quickly.
Just this week there was a press conference to support additional African-American teachers in NYC public schools. Has there been enough progress on that issue? Well, Sarah Smith Garnet did wonderful advocacy work on this very issue in the 1870s. I say 140 years is long enough to wait. Sarah Garnet was right back then, and it is time to give her the credit she is due.
Let’s rename PS9 after Sarah Smith Garnet. How Long Must We Wait?
