The following is a press release from the Framingham Public Schools submitted to SOURCE media
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FRAMINGHAM – Representatives from the Framingham Public Library, Framingham Public Schools, the Framingham History Center, and Framingham State University invite community members to attend a virtual event which will outline the detailed and community-focused process to rename one of Framingham’s elementary schools.
Attendees will be presented with different ways to become involved and given an opportunity to share their voices with this exciting, student-led initiative, which will reshape the future of Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.
Titled Looking Back, Moving Forward: Renaming the Woodrow Wilson School, this event calls upon the expertise of several community partners to help provide education and understanding about Woodrow Wilson (the 28th President of the United States), the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School and its current model, the history of the school and how it received its name originally, as well as how and why Framingham Public Schools is pursuing this name change.
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The 90-minute event will be held on Zoom. It starts at 7 p.m. The Webinar will offer live interpretation in Spanish and Portuguese
Register for the event on Eventbrite
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The presentation will feature remarks from the following speakers:
- Superintendent of Framingham Public Schools, Robert Tremblay
- School Committee member liaisons to the Renaming Planning Committee
- School leaders and students from Woodrow Wilson Elementary School
- Lori Gemeiner Bihler, Associate Professor of History, Framingham State University
- Laura Rankin, Assistant Director, Framingham History Center
- Lara Vilahomat, Head of Community and Outreach Experience, Framingham Public Library
In 1928, the town of Framingham named its new school on Leland Street after Woodrow Wilson to honor the 28th President of the United States.
The school that had formerly served this area was named Beaver Street Schoolhouse and it was originally in Sherborn.
In 1924, Sherborn transferred the schoolhouse and surrounding land to the town of Framingham as part of the Sherborn Annexation.
Reason for Change
For many years, there have been conversations and concerns in the Framingham community about why the school is named after President Wilson. Although Woodrow Wilson was an important person in our country’s history, he is also well-known to have supported racist policies and segregation. Several other schools in the U.S. that are named “Woodrow Wilson School” took action to change their name.
Last summer, over 1,500 signatures were collected on a student-led, online petition to change the name of the school here in Framingham.
On October 1, 2020, the Framingham School Committee voted that this school year we will change the name of Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.
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Woodrow Wilson Elementary School has been an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) World School since June 2015. It is one of four IB PYP schools in Massachusetts and part of a network of about 2,000 IB PYP schools in over 110 countries. IB PYP schools share a common philosophy – a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education. Learning experiences focus on the development of the whole child as an inquirer and a life-long learner. The school values international-mindedness and students strive to demonstrate the IB Learner Profile every day. Woodrow Wilson Elementary School offers three strands of general education and language development in Portuguese and English through Dual Language Education, Transitional Bilingual Education, and English Immersion with Portuguese as a World Language.
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