By Andrew Hackmack
Cummings wanted to address the issue after several community members spoke out against the name change at the November Board of Education meeting. The suggestion was made by trustee Cristobal Stewart, but Cummings said the board has not had anything more than an informal discussion.
"I would like to make it very clear," Cummings said, "that there is nothing on our agenda in the immediate future or anywhere down the road to change the name of any building."
The board did ask its attorney to find out what the protocol for a name change would be, should a situation arise where the community supported one. District 30 has never renamed one of its schools. Cummings said that it would only take a board resolution to make such a change.
However, Cummings explained, the board would never made such a decision without extensive input from community members. "We do want an open discussion," he said, adding that the board might even consider drafting a policy regarding school name changes.
Even after assurances from Cummings, members of the community continued to speak out against any name change. Johanna Lovalvo, a 45-year resident of the village, talked of a situation that happened in District 24 where she lives. Lovalvo explained that despite community opposition, in 1972 the board of education re-named the Franklin Avenue School after board trustee Pastor William F. Donahue.
"The board pushed it through, voted for it against our wishes and got their way," she said. Donahue was once a beloved pastor in the village, Lovalvo said, but no more after the name change because people were angry. Lovalvo said that if the school were to be renamed after Obama, the president-elect would be "hung with that same legacy."
Mary Sheffield, a parent of former Clear Stream Avenue School students and past PTA president there, also voice her opposition to the name change. "Clear Stream is our identity and we want to keep it as Clear Stream," she said.
Sheffield said that if a name is ever changed on a school, it has to be the community's decision, not five people on a board of education. She noted that with the exception of the Donahue School, other schools in Valley Stream to have been renamed were met with great community support.
Clear Stream Avenue School was built in 1924 with eight rooms and was doubled in size four years later. It was expanded again in 1956 and 2003. Clear Stream Avenue is Valley Stream's second oldest school that still operates behind Brooklyn Avenue in District 24.
Former Clear Stream Avenue School Principal Robert Cohen, who spent 14 years there, said not a day goes by when he doesn't think about his time there. "I could tell you countless stories about the students I've seen over the years and the feelings they've conveyed about Clear Stream."
Resident Ian Spano said that there are many great people who have come from Valley Stream that have not been worthy of a school name. There have also been many great presidents during the 85 years Clear Stream has been standing and none of them made the cut either, he said.
In his final comments, Spano read the names of people from Valley Stream who were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "If those people aren't qualified, then nobody's qualified," he said.
