School board votes to change the name of Patrick Henry High School
Patrick Henry High School will soon go by a different name. Photo by David Pierini
By Azhae’la Hanson, Reporter
In 2018, a coalition of students and teachers were committed to resolving a controversy surrounding a Northside high school. The controversy was about the school’s name, which in the minds of many Black and Brown people, represented 400 years of slavery in America: Patrick Henry.
Nearly four years later, the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Directors unanimously voted to change the name of Patrick Henry High School. This is the second time a name change for Henry was brought to the school board. A vote in 2018 was tabled because of the polarizing response from the community, a lack of funding and the time and difficulty involved in changing the long-time name of a school.
Director Kimberly Caprini sponsored the vote on Aug. 16 to start the process of stripping the school of its problematic name. Patrick Henry, revered as a patriot as the school’s nickname suggests, owned slaves.
Caprini said the name change was never off the table. The board just needed time to research the historic figure. Now directors are prepared to present the issue as something that is not up for negotiation.
Although the response of the community is still split, Caprini says it's nowhere near as dangerous as it was in 2018, as concern for the safety of school and board leaders were a primary concern that led to the board to not make a decision.
“The former Henry principal Yusuf Abdullah received many troubling phone calls.” Caprini said. “And so did I.”
Some of the recent changes leading to the unanimous decision are the district setting aside funds to support the project, and the creation of multiple committees
tasked with deciding the name change. Although there is still pushback against the name change, Caprini hopes the research the board gathered over the past few years will be an eye opener for those who are against the change. The findings have not been disclosed. “Hopefully when folks learn this information, they understand why it's important that we need to change the name.” Caprini said.
“The unanimous decision isn't exclusive to Henry either,” Caprini said. “There are multiple schools on a list that will be required to have their name changed.”
A matter of when the name will be changed is still up in the air. There will be several outlets for the public to suggest name changes and the community be the ones to vote and decide on the new name.
Other Minneapolis public schools that have undergone a name change have taken about two years. Caprini hopes it will be sooner than that. They have been considering that Henry’s feeder school, Olson Middle School, plays a large part in what the name should be, allowing the students to be a part of the school that they will be attending in the future.
As five new board members will arrive in January, Caprini says it will be up to them to decide the fate of the school's name. She hopes they continue to consider the board's initiative to create and encourage school environments that reflect the population.