WHEREAS: Last year the School Committee decided to rename the Vassal Lane Upper School to honor Black Cantabridgian(s) rather than someone who enslaved others; and

WHEREAS: The Superintendent and Principal engaged the staff, students, and families at VLUS in a process to suggest potential names; and

WHEREAS: Students shared their thoughts about the qualities they wanted in an honoree, including someone who was a local leader, made a positive change, is a person of color, is inclusive, and humble; and

WHEREAS: Students presented numerous possibilities for school names without a specific recommendation; and

WHEREAS: Community members, particularly representatives from the Slave Legacy History Coalition and Cambridge Black History Project, reached out to the School Committee to suggest renaming the school after Darby Vassall; and

WHEREAS: After securing his liberty from enslavement with the Vassall family, Darby Vassall went on to be a civil rights and educational justice leader, petitioning the state legislature for funding to educate Black children; and

WHEREAS: Darby Vassall was outspoken about human rights his entire life, including as a six-year-old declining unpaid work for General George Washington and through his work founding the African Society and with the New England Anti-Slavery Society; and

WHEREAS: Students and staff at VLUS have been offended by attending and working in a school with the enslaver’s name (Vassall); and

WHEREAS: Roughly a century after Darby Vassall’s death, Dr. Carolyn L. Turk grew up close to Vassal Lane in Cambridge, in a predominantly Black neighborhood; and

WHEREAS: Dr. Carolyn L. Turk was in the first cohort of Cambridge Public School students to be educated in the building that became the Tobin Montessori/Vassal Lane Upper School; and

WHEREAS: Dr. Carolyn L. Turk went on to dedicate her career to students in Cambridge Public Schools, including as a teacher and Vice Principal at the Tobin School, and ultimately Deputy Superintendent of the district; and

WHEREAS: Cambridge has previously named schools after two civil rights leaders, namely Saundra Graham and Rosa Parks; now therefore be it

RESOLVED: that the Vassal Lane Upper School be renamed the Darby Turk Upper School; and be it further

RESOLVED: That students at the school will learn about the history behind their school’s name; and be it further

RESOLVED: That formal copies of this resolution be prepared by the Executive Secretary to the School Committee to be presented to the Slave Legacy History Coalition and Dr. Carolyn L. Turk.  


School Committee Actions

Action Action Date Reconsidered By Referred to Subcommitee
11/21/2023 Adopted

Associated Files

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