After reading Jim Heffernan’s letter to the editor I had a nightmarish thought. What if the current school board and their ilk retained control of the School Board and decided to honor the Superintendent by renaming one of our schools for him? If I had my druthers I’d put up bronze plaques on all our new schools stating that they were erected without a public vote.
Mr. Heffernan, a former Trib editor who I always enjoyed fencing has not use for the nondescript names being bandied about for new schools. A sample:
Recently, while exploring Duluth’s Forest Hill Cemetery, I came across a modest gravestone with the name “Denfeld†carved on its surface. It was the grave of Robert E. Denfeld, the long-ago superintendent of Duluth public schools after whom Denfeld High School was and is named. Superintendent Denfeld guided Duluth schools in the early decades of the 20th century when the city was burgeoning and most of its schools were built. He was a revered educator, so respected his name lives on a century after he served our city.
Thirty years ago when I was running against Rep. Mike Jaros instead of lauding him for sticking up for voters in the rush to pave them over with the Red Plan I got a call from Supt. Denfeld’s son.
In 1978 the School Board was about to close Morgan Park High School and some folks were talking about changing the name of Denfeld High School so that the new students would feel more welcome. This proposal caught the attention of Mr. Denfeld’s son who called me up to lobby against it thinking that I as a candidate for the state legislature might have some influence to keep the name the same. Until then, I’m not sure I’d ever even heard of his father having relocated to Duluth from southern Minnesota.
I’m far less interested in the naming of our schools than in what they accomplish. When I say this I’m not referring to the buildings but the staff. But I’m by nature a historian. I recall how Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy in the wake of the young President’s assassination. It was not without some good cause. Kennedy had championed the race to the Moon and we launched our Moon shots then as today from the Cape. Without searching the Internet I’m not even sure who or what Canaveral was named after. Still, that was an ancient name which traced back to the earliest European explorers.
All throughout the US we find place names that hark back to the place names given by Native Americans. I’ve lived in two of them, Topeka, Kansas and Mankato, Minnesota. Actually that’s four Indian derived names and it doesn’t count Minneapolis where I lived for a few months one summer while working for the GOP back when the G stood for “grand.” They aren’t necessarily grandiose Indian words either. In the case of Topeka it turns out it may mean “a good place to dig potatoes.”
Ah, but I’m ruminating. Sorry. So, my point is. Jim Heffernan is right – this time. Its appropriate for new schools to be named for beloved educators.
