Click here to access a timeline that outlines the work of our student nominations committee, the Bee-lievers in Change

Background and Overview

As a result of listening closely to a wide variety of perspectives, the School Committee and Superintendent Bott have developed a Naming Process that will put Coolidge Corner students and graduates of Devotion School who now attend Brookline High School at the center of the nomination process, allow for adults to provide proper support and guidance to these students, and ensure that all perspectives are heard and valued.

From October through November 2018, the Coolidge Corner School invited Coolidge Corner students in grades 3-8 and Brookline High School students who graduated from the Devotion School to apply to be leaders on the renaming process for the Coolidge Corner School. Students selected to be on the Nominations Committee would review all nominations for the new school name and decide which 10 names should be recommended to the School Committee. The students would embody the following qualities:

• Work well with others
• Listen well and encourage others to participate
• Like to learn and are curious
• Represent the diverse perspectives and backgrounds of the Coolidge Corner School community
• Recognize when something is wrong and act to make it right
• Demonstrate an interest in social justice issues
  

On November 30, a group of PSB staff ran a double-blind lottery to selected 14 Coolidge Corner students and 4 Brookline High School students to be on the Nominations Committee. With adult support, these students will review the nominations for the new school name be responsible for selecting up to 10 names to be considered further by the School Committee. More information on the application process can be found here.

Nominations Committee Training Sessions

Over the course of five sessions, students on the Nominations Committee will participate in trainings designed to support them in their work. These sessions are tentatively scheduled to take place on Wednesdays from 1:30-3:00, pending the schedules of BHS students selected to be on the committee. The tentative outline of these trainings is as follows (pending outreach to presenters listed and confirmation of their availability):

• December 5, 2018: Presentation by the Petitioners 
  • The Petitioners shared with students the impetus behind the renaming, explain why it is important for the Town of Brookline, describe how the process has unfolded thus far, and explain the vision the Petitioners had in creating the warrant article. 
    
    

• December 12, 2018; Team Building and Group Decision Making Processes
  • The group works together to build its collaboration and teamwork and learn about group decision making processes. This work was led by Principal Jen Buller and Vice Principal Saeed Ola.
    
    

• December 19, 2018; Hidden Brookline Walking Tour
  • Student Nominating Committee members learn about the history of slavery in Brookline to allow them to consider it as part of the context and history related to the renaming process and purpose of the original warrant article.  
    
    
• January 9, 2019; Difficult Conversations
• PSB’s Senior Director for Educational Equity Dr. Kalise Wornum led a workshop on how to have difficult conversations including role-playing on how to respond when responding to questions or comments they receive from fellow students or from members of the public.
  
  
• January 16, 2019; Launch
• Superintendent Andrew Bott speaks with students about the powerful and deeply important work they are embarking on and the leadership opportunity they have before them. 

School Name Selection Process

The Nominations Committee will tentatively meet weekly on Wednesdays from 1:30-3:00, starting on January 23, 2019, through March 3, 2019. During this selection process, the Nominations Committee will select the names of 10-15 semi-finalists to bring forward for community presentation. Starting the week of March 13, 2019, through March 27, 2019, all students who applied to be a part of the Nominations Committee will reconvene with the committee. Small groups of students will be assigned to each of the semi-finalist names and will prepare a presentation about that name.

Working with community members, posters for each semi-finalist name will be produced in collaboration with community partners so that these semi-finalist names can be presented throughout the community. On Thursday, April 11, a community forum will be held at the Coolidge Corner School during which students will present the semi-finalist names in a gallery walk format. The entire Town of Brookline will be invited to attend. They will provide feedback and rank their choices for the name of the school, with those votes then tallied for the Nominations Committee. The Nominations Committee will review the feedback and votes, and provide the School Committee with a list of 3 finalists, ranked in order of their preference, on April 26, 2019.

• Weeks of January 21st - March 4th
• Using the experience they gained during the Team Development Phase, the team reviews every submission individually and assesses the submission. As necessary, the teams do research on nominations to be more fully informed about them. 
• The Bee-lievers in Change reviewed all submitted nominations and came to consensus on 15 semifinalists 
• Working in small groups, the team did additional research on all 15 semifinalists and created one-page summaries about each one 
  
  

• Weeks of March 11th - April 10th
• All applicants to the process will be re-engaged and invited to participate to help review presentations and materials to help educate the public about the semifinalists. 
• Mini-committees of 4-5 students created to research and develop a presentation for each semi-finalist
• PSB developed posters and flyers for each semifinalist to be used for public awareness
• Practice and preparation for three public Renaming Nights where the entire Brookline community is invited to learn about the semifinalists from the Bee-lievers in Change and provide input. Includes practicing presentations with teachers. 
  
  

• April 3, 23, and 29, 2019 - Renaming Nights Open to all Community Members
• The Brookline community invited to participate on three Naming Nights, to learn more about the semifinalists and provide input on nominees they support. 
• This open event will be set up for families and community members to drop in, interact with each of the mini-committees to learn more about each semi-finalist and view the printed media created about each semi-finalist

Public Hearing Process

The School Committee will hold two public hearings in May, one in the School Committee Room at Town Hall and the other at the Coolidge Corner School. The School Committee will also provide a digital format for collecting feedback on the finalist names. Using the feedback and input gathered from the public hearings, the School Committee will select one name to forward to the Town of Brookline Naming Committee before the end of June.

• May 2019
• The student nominations committee reconvened, process feedback from the three Renaming Nights and came to consensus on 4 names to move forward to the School Committee 
• The most consistent and repeated feedback received by the committee on the semifinalists was that the finalists should have a strong connection to Brookline. 
• Bee-lievers in Change leads presentations to all students in each grade to educate them about the finalists. Each class votes on finalists. 
• Coolidge Corner School students recommend moving forward with Florida Ruffin Ridley out of the four finalists.
• Bee-lievers in Change recommends the four finalists to the School Committee at a public meeting.