Beachum proposes elementary school be named for Rosa Parks

The board wants input on the school's name from students and the community.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The new North Elementary School may have a different name by the time the building opens, a date tentatively set for fall 2008.
School board member Lock P. Beachum Sr. has proposed that the new building be named the Rosa Parks Elementary School in honor of the late civil rights activist.
Beachum had a resolution drawn up for a school board meeting earlier this month that called for the beginning of discussions to rename the school, but it didn't come up for a vote.
Instead, the Rev. Michael Write, board president, said the issue needed to be assigned to committee for review and recommendation.
He appointed a special ad hoc committee to handle the issue, naming Beachum and board members Jacqueline Taylor and Shelley Murray to the committee with Jamael Brown as an alternate.
The board wants community and student involvement in the name selection process, and it will be up to the committee to organize and coordinate that effort, Write said.
In the meantime, Beachum's resolution could be added to the agenda at Tuesday's school board meeting, he said.
Tentative schedule
Replacing the North building is part of a $192 million districtwide rebuilding program that calls for the replacement or renovation of 14 buildings.
The tentative time schedule shows a new $9 million North building opening in the fall of 2008, although that could be changed as a result of some redesign work being done on that and four other individual building projects because of declining enrollments.
The Ohio School Facilities Commission is picking up about 80 percent of the building costs.
Rosa Parks was a 43-year-old seamstress when, in 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man, a move that resulted in her arrest and sparked the 351-day Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped launch the entire civil rights movement, Beachum said.
Parks died in October 2005 at age 92. She was an icon for the civil rights movement and, arguably, one of the most important women in the nation's history, he said.
States and cities will honor her life and legacy for years to come, and it is fitting that Youngstown consider doing the same, Beachum said.
gwin@vindy.com