Harms Elementary School

[Worldsgreatest]

Somewhat related but does anybody know why the building next to cristo rey high school is boarded up?

[Danny]

Somewhat related but does anybody know why the building next to cristo rey high school is boarded up?

Cesar Chavez Public School Districts gobbled them all up like Pac Man. Welcome to charter schools folks. Cesar Chavez even got a elementary school in the Detroit's East Side too. Almost 100% black students there. I check it out while walking on da hood.

[jcole]

Somewhat related but does anybody know why the building next to cristo rey high school is boarded up?

I think that's the old Holy Redeemer Gymnasium which I've been told had bowling lanes and a pool in it.

[sw_kid]

Building that is boarded up on the Vernor side of the Detroit Cristo Rey / Holy Redeemer campus is the auditorium. Not sure why its boarded up.

The gym is directly west of the auditorium and just got redone a few years ago.

No bowling lanes in the gym or anywhere else on campus for that matter and Redeemer never had a pool.

[jcole]

Building that is boarded up on the Vernor side of the Detroit Cristo Rey / Holy Redeemer campus is the auditorium. Not sure why its boarded up.

The gym is directly west of the auditorium and just got redone a few years ago.

No bowling lanes in the gym or anywhere else on campus for that matter and Redeemer never had a pool.

Ok, thanks for the corrections.

[weezyandme]

Actually there is a typo in the uncontrolled survey so if option one is the lead the school will be named for BenitA Jaurez!!! Thes people are clueless and need to leave things alone. That is why it is called history, learn it and embrace it, don't erase it. Theodore Harms was the first superintendent ever of the Delray Schools which became the Detroit Public Schools. Those kids and their parents should be honored and proud to have the privilege of attending school at an icon of Detroit history. That school has served students nonstop since 1917. Many cultures, ethnicities and races have paced through that school and neighborhood including Latino people before and no one disrespected the history of Harms ever until this loser principal Mr. Cruz came to town. He is spearheading this and needs to be removed. The test scores have faltered in his charge, enrollment is down, attendance is down. He is the name that needs to be changed to a new Principal not a new school name.

[weezyandme]

Kimy L. Gibson
Sacramento, Ca 95815

March 18, 2019

Open Letter to the Board of Education of the Detroit Public Schools, Iris Taylor, Ph.D., Angelique Peterson-Mayberry, Misha Stallworth, Deborah Hunter-Harvill, Ed.D., Georgia Lemmons, Bishop Corletta J. Vaughn, Sonya Mays, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, Deputy Superintendent Iranetta Wright, Principal Lead Leenet Campbell-Williams, and Principal of Harms Elementary School, Mauro Cruz

After watching the meeting today and then seeing the news clip all the way out in California, I felt the need to reach out to you once again. I unfortunately assumed that being you either sit on the Board of Education or are a member of the cabinet or a Principal of a school in the Detroit Public School System that you would have taken the time to know who Theodore Harms was. I therefore started with who he was as a community member rather than his history of Education. Now that I have watched the meeting and listened to people’s comments including school district employees who should be aware of the entire history of something so important, let me explain it a little further to you.


Here is where it began. William T. Harms was on the Delray Board of Education and made a motion to name the school after his father, Theodore Harms who was the prior superintendent of the Delray Schools. The motion passed and history began for Harms Elementary School.
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Harms School in Southwest Detroit

Designed in 1915 by Wirt Rowland while with the firm of Malcomson & Higginbotham; the school was opened in March of 1917.

Harms was the last of six "standard intermediate schools" designed by Rowland, all based on the same floor plan. Of those, Harms and Thirkell are the only two remaining in service.

The school opened with 500 students, most of whom came from overcrowded Bennett School, built a few years earlier and just a half mile away.

Theodore Harms was a German immigrant who moved to Southwest Detroit [[then known as Springwells Township) in 1870. He opened a hardware store on the corner of Fort Street and Springwells Avenue and was later elected to the School Board.

Our cultural differences are what made not only Detroit but America. We are a melting pot and that is how we all got here at one point or another. History is to be researched and taught, NOT rewritten. If the school had closed as Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School did and then reopened I could understand but this school has had its doors open every day from day one and does not need to be anything but what it is and that is THEODORE HARMS SCHOOL

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Mr. Harms was an individual dedicated to education. He instilled those same values in his children. He believed all children deserved a quality education and became a member of the school board to ensure they got it. His son followed in his father’s footsteps. This was an immigrant who came to America for what it has to offer. He seized the wonderful things it had to offer to him and his family. He worked to fit in and be part of the new community he had chosen to live in. When a new school was built it was named in his honor for his accomplishments and contributions to his community. This is the history of Theodore Harms School.

Since this time the demographics of the community the school serves have changed many times over. With each change, there were adjustments to be made not only by those entering the community but by those who had been there their entire life. That is what you do when you are a community. You band together, you do not come in and try to change or divide. A community has something you like that drew you there in the first place. Theodore Harms School was one of those things. No other heritage, ethnicity or culture has ever asked to change the name of this school or made false claims as Mr. Cruz has as to the name being offensive or meaning something else in a different language. It IS NOT in a different language. It is English in America. Learn it and embrace it. It is the language of the country with so much to offer you chose to live here, please remember that.

To come in to a community and try to change its history is disrespectful. A school Principal spearheading this effort is disrespectful. If you are not proud of where you work maybe you belong elsewhere. Mrs. Erma Laird Colding taught in that very school for 50 years in the same classroom. Why you might ask? Because she was proud to be part of Harms school and our community. She was African American. She never even thought of changing the school name to the name of another African American. She was proud to work at Harms, she loved Harms and its students and parents. She loved the Harms family. She knew them, and respected them. If there was ever someone who deserved their name on a Detroit School for all she offered generations of families it would be Mrs. Erma Laird Colding. Did you see the community start an effort to strip Theodore Harms name from the building to name it for her? NO you did not. There is plaque outside her room to honor her dedicated with love from her students and the community.

Maybe the students, their parents and some staff like Mr. Cruz and the Board of Education should be educated on the history of Theodore Harms Elementary school a little better before they chose to disrespect all who came before them. You leave a legacy behind you, you do not take someone else’s.

Had the information about this plan and the meetings been shared community wide rather than kept to the small controlled group it was, you would of known you were going down the wrong path. Had the school of ever been closed and then reopened a name change would possibly be acceptable and Mrs. Erma Laird Colding would be the only choice. This school was not built by Hispanics. The name is not spoken in Spanish, it is English. It should be accepted by them the same way all other groups have over the decades. Be proud of the school your children attend and teach them to be proud as well.

The alumni and community past and present who are part of the Harms legacy are politely asking that you stop this process and start a new one. You teach the history of Theodore Harms Elementary. You teach that history is built not rewritten. You teach acceptance and appreciation. You teach respect for those who have worked so hard before you so that you can be offered all that you are in life. But most importantly, when you are a leader, you educate yourself. Be proactive instead of reactive. Everyone involved in this matter should have done their homework and knew what they were talking about before they ever even thought about opening their mouths.

Has anyone noticed the dedication at the bottom of the flagpole in front of the school? Did anyone ever wonder why it is for Mr. Fred Harms? Did any of you know for decades he walked to that school from his home with the school children to watch them raise the US Flag each and every morning and retuned each afternoon to watch it be retired? Did anyone know he taught each and every child the proper respect for the US Flag himself? Did any of you know he would teach each new group of students how to properly unfold the flag to place it on the pole and raise it quickly with pride and how you lower it each day very slowly with respect? Probably not. We placed our names in a drawing to be able to be on flag duty for a week with Mr. Fred Harms. He taught us all about proper respect for the flag of our country that was proudly flown in front of a school named for his father because of all he did for that community in his time. That is why the dedication is to Mr. Fred Harms. Now you have been educated.

There are so many more wonderful things I could educate you about Theodore Harms School and the man it was named for and the wonderful family he had. Descendants of Theodore Harms were at the 100 year anniversary celebration, did anyone reach out to them with this idea? I have spoken to them and the answer is no. They are devastated.

In closing, I have offered for any of you to contact me directly. You have my email and my number is . Feel free to reach out and I will tell you anything you want to know about my school. It is a legacy that was left for us to respect and be proud of. Try doing the same while you build your own instead of laying claim to someone else’s.



Respectfully submitted,



Kimy L. Gibson
Proud Alumni of Theodore Harms School
And Southwest Detroit

[dtowncitylover]

Let's change the name of the school to Erma Laird Colding Elementary!

You sound bitter, condescending, and vindictive. You obviously stated you don't like the principal and maybe you have valid points, but it comes across uncouth. Good luck!

[dtowncitylover]

To come in to a community and try to change its history is disrespectful.

That's rich.

[Zacha341]

I think the names should stay unless there's a combining of schools such a how East English Preparatory Academy HS came about. For example [[see article below) Crockett CTE was renamed Ben Carson a few years back, only to once again bear the original name after Ethelene Crockett... Harms school and others mentioned too:

https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/detr...rson-crockett/

Detroit school named after Ben Carson would get a new name that evokes its Crockett history

From story:

.....If approved by the full Detroit school board, the move would strip from the school the name of Carson — the controversial Detroit native and renowned pediatric surgeon who is now part of President Trump’s cabinet.

And the new name would be a nod to the school’s history. In 2011, the Carson high school opened on the campus of Crockett Career and Technical Center — a decision made by an emergency manager for the district. The two schools co-existed until last year, when the Crockett career technical program closed. The school site also at one point housed Crockett High School, which operated as a traditional high school until it was merged into East English Village Preparatory Academy. Crockett was named after Dr. Ethelene Crockett, the first African American woman in Michigan to become board certified in obstetrics and gynecology.

The Carson name change is one of several name change proposals that need approval from the Detroit school board, the first since members approved a policy last year that outlined the procedure for naming or renaming schools.

On Monday, the board’s curriculum committee OK’d recommending the proposal for full board approval. None of the three board members who sit on the committee raised objections. But on Friday, there was some dissension during a finance committee meeting, as one member questioned the Carson name change and another raised concerns with the entire process for renaming schools. The full board would take up the issue at its April 16 meeting.

The other name changes on tap: Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women would become Legacy Academy and Harms Elementary School would become Southwest Detroit Elementary School.

[Bham1982]

So the schools in SW Detroit should be named according to the whims of someone living in Northern CA. And it's terrible for a community to honor prominent folks, except 150 years ago, when it was apparently great.

[Meddle]

This is all why I say no people names. Too many get offended over so little. What's wrong with simply 'Southwest Elementary'?