Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The district’s first black male and female superintendents were honored.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Michael Write said that renaming two elementary schools after nationally known individuals and a high school library after a former school superintendent is a “win-win-win situation” for the city schools.
The outgoing school board president chaired a special school board ad hoc committee to look at renaming some schools after a series of requests that certain people be recognized by having a building named in their honor.
That committee recommended and the school board voted Tuesday to rename West Elementary as the William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School and the new North Elementary now under construction as the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School.
The board, again acting on the committee’s recommendation, then renamed the new library facilities at Chaney High School the Emanuel N. Catsoules Library and Media Center, honoring the former superintendent who held that position from 1978 to 1992.
Arlette Gatewood, treasurer of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, which advocated having a building named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., thanked the board for its consideration and said the institute will pick up the cost of having a sign erected in front of the school, which is to open next year at 2724 Mariner Ave.
Richard Scarsella, president of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, said the society will adopt the former West Elementary, and its members will spend time there, bringing educational programs including its professional storyteller to launch a storytelling program in the school.
Rachael Smith, the building principal, said she sees this as a good opportunity for the school and its children, pointing out that it is an honor to have their school named after a local man who became known as “America’s Schoolmaster.”
No representative of the Catsoules family attended the meeting.
“We’re continuing a legacy here,” said board member Shelley Murray, pointing out the Youngstown schools have had both a McGuffey and a King building in the past.
There were actually a couple of McGuffey buildings in the district’s history, but the last one was closed in 1941, and, despite a board promise at that time to replace it, a new McGuffey was never built.
The Martin Luther King building still exists but has been closed and will soon be razed as part of a school rebuilding program.
The building was formerly known as Covington Elementary School, named after the street where it is located, but was given the name of the slain civil rights leader in 1986.
The board also honored a former and the current superintendents, publicly presenting their framed portraits, which will be hung in the Irene Ward central administration building at 20 W. Wood St.
Dr. Robert L. Pegues Jr., who served as superintendent from 1972 to 1978, and Dr. Wendy Webb, who has held that post since 2004, had been recognized by the board back in February as being the first black male and female superintendents in the Youngstown schools.
Pegues said he never planned on being a superintendent but felt it was God’s will that led him to serve in that capacity.
Webb said she was honored just to be recognized with Pegues, whom she called a “mentor” who “was always committed to children.”
gwin@vindy.com