![\"Roland](\"https:\/\/img.einpresswire.com\/large\/674366\/psb-logo.png#972x274\"){kind=logo}
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe renaming of the school, formerly known as Heath School, was approved by the Town Meeting in November last year.<\/i><\/p>\n
BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES, May 22, 2024 \/EINPresswire.com<\/a>\/ — The Public Schools of Brookline\u2019s Roland Hayes School will commemorate its new moniker with a community celebration on Monday, June 3, 2024, which is the late tenor\u2019s birthday and observed as Roland Hayes Day in Brookline.<\/p>\n The celebration will take place on the school\u2019s grounds (100 Eliot Street, Brookline, MA – 02467) from 1pm to 2.30pm, and will be attended by members of Mr. Hayes\u2019 family. The event will include musical performances of his music, by students in grades 3-5 as well as by vocalist Jackson Caesar. Students in the K-8 school will end the ceremony by singing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to the school\u2019s new namesake.<\/p>\n This is the culmination of an elaborate renaming process that the school commenced after it discovered, through Hidden Brookline<\/a>, that the school\u2019s previous name, Heath, was after a Brookline family that enslaved others.<\/p>\n The efforts were led by a Student Renaming Committee, who proposed four names \u2013 musician Roland Hayes, METCO founder Ruth Batson, artist John Woodrow Wilson and abolitionists Ellen and William Craft. On June 8 and 9, 2023, these were put to a vote. A total of 733 people, including students, staff and family members, cast their votes and decided that the school would be renamed after Roland Hayes, a pioneering Black musician who lived in Brookline for a large part of his life.<\/p>\n Thereafter, the new name was approved by the School Committee and the Town\u2019s Naming Committee. Finally, on November 16, 2023, the Student Renaming Committee presented the new name at Town Meeting, and Town Meeting members voted overwhelmingly to approve the renaming of the school to Roland Hayes School.<\/p>\n \u201cWe embarked on the school renaming process in an effort to collectively understand the role of slavery in our community, the impact on our school, create a vision of ourselves more aligned with our current values, and build as safe a community as possible for those in our care\u201d, said Asa Sevelius, the school principal. \u201cWith our process and the selection of Roland Hayes as our new school name, I think we are closer to meeting that collective goal.\u201d<\/p>\n The Roland Hayes School and the Public Schools of Brookline invite the entire community to come and be a part of the renaming celebration.<\/p>\n Neel Gudka
The Public Schools of Brookline
neel_gudka@psbma.org<\/a>
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