School Committee Approves Columbus School Name Change

MEDFORD, MA — The Medford School Committee voted Monday to change the name of Christopher Columbus Elementary School. In a 6-1 vote, the Committee approved a resolution establishing an advisory committee to rename the school by July 1, 2021.

School Committee member Kathy Kreatz was the one holdout, emphasizing that she supported the name change but wanted more transparency on the issue. A motion introduced by Kreatz to table the resolution and "have a healthy discussion about such a serious matter" at a public forum failed 4-3 earlier in the meeting.

Transparency was a common theme during the two hours of debate over the name change. While several members of the community spoke, some School Committee members said they were inundated with comments from constituents who were not aware the resolution was being taken up Monday.

While they ultimately voted in favor of changing the school's name, Paulette van der Kloot and Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn supported Kreatz's motion to table the resolution. Lungo-Koehn said she received "100-150 phone calls, emails, text messages and Facebook messages from people asking what's going on."

Paul Ruseau, who introduced the resolution along with Melanie McLaughlin and Mea Mustone, hit back against questions of transparency. He said the proposal, like every other agenda item, is available for public viewing ahead of each School Committee meeting.

"School committee members are part-time people who are not tasked or have a full staff of people to go interrogate or set up endless community meetings to poll and find out what people think is the right decision on everything we do," Ruseau said.

"I would make this decision and put this vote if literally every person who wrote to me said do not change that name," he continued.

It's not the first time the school's name has been up for debate. It was originally named the Mystic School as a nod to the area's indigenous population, only to be changed in 1928 to honor Christopher Columbus. As the conversation around Columbus shifted in schools 20 years ago, questions were first raised about whether the name was appropriate.

"I did not know that [Columbus] is considered the father of the Atlantic slave trade or that there are documentations in his own letters, his own writings, where he talks about the benefit of having 9- and 10-year-old slave children, girls," McLaughlin said. "Or that 14-year-old slaves and above were mandated to bring him cups of gold, and if they didn't, he would cut their hands off and bring their dismembered hands among the community as a demonstration of what happened."

The consensus among School Committee members was the name needs to go, and an advisory committee will convene this fall to discuss possible alternatives. The advisory committee will partner with students, families and staff of the Columbus School, per an amendment to Monday's resolution.