Unlikely sources write the latest chapter in Brookline’s reckoning with racial injustice: elementary and middle school students are changing the name of Heath Elementary School, hoping to make a lasting change that will spread throughout their community and trickle down to their classrooms.

The school was named after the Heath family, who were wealthy benefactors to many of the town’s programs nearly two hundred years ago. In October 2022, Heath Principal Asa Sevelius officially announced that Heath Elementary School would change its name.

Public discomfort with the Heath name has grown since May 2018 after research conducted by the School Committee Ad Hoc Task Force on School Names revealed that John Heath, the patriarch of the Heath family, enslaved five people to work on his farms and within his home. The decision to rename the school followed calls from students and faculty to remove references to the name, coupled with a nearly year-long discussion with members of the Heath community.

The Heath Elementary School’s name change marks the town’s second school renaming in the last four years, after the Edward Devotion School became the Florida Ruffin Ridley School, following the discovery that Edward Devotion had enslaved a person. Sevelius said the Florida Ruffin Ridley School’s renaming process offered insight into engaging the town community with the Heath School’s renaming.

“We heeded much advice from Florida Ruffin Ridley’s renaming about being as transparent as possible during the decision-making process and the importance of over-communicating with the community rather than under-communicating,” Sevelius said. “That resulted in sending frequent messages to families and students, videotaping Zoom meetings about our renaming and making those public, putting all necessary information on the website and reminding people about where we were in the process.”

Championing much of the renaming process is the Student Renaming Committee, composed of current and former Heath School students ranging from 4th to 10th grade.

After convening in early January of 2023, the Student Renaming Committee determined the new name must connect to Greater Boston and Brookline, honor someone who contributed to the community and made a positive impact, honor a commitment to educating others and not appropriate Indigenous culture. The Student Renaming Committee also recommended that the new name recognize a historically underrepresented community in Brookline.

Sevelius said the effort to represent underrepresented communities through the new name was encouraged in light of the circumstances that prompted the Heath School’s renaming.

“Representing a group that has been historically underrepresented and marginalized, like the BIPOC community, would not only heal the pain inflicted by the Heath name but also allow us to celebrate the rich, diverse culture present in the town,” Sevelius said.

School Committee and Heath Renaming Committee member Miriam Aschkenasy said that the contributions of overlooked, underrepresented groups were far more significant than those of the Heath family.

“The Heath School was only named for the Heath family because they were wealthy contributors to the town, but they earned their money off the backs of slaves,” Aschkenasy said. “Slavery taints the wealth the Heath family gave the town.”

School Committee member Stephen Ehrenberg said a student-driven school renaming evokes more excitement and engagement among community members than an adult-led process would.

“Students have lots of energy for this kind of work and bring lots of passion to the discussion around renaming schools. They are often bolder than most adults and aren’t afraid to take on the conventions around a name that adults often would be,” Ehrenberg said. “Students are likely the best driving forces for school renamings because they are affected by these decisions.”

Aschkenasy said that the decision to rename the Heath School demonstrates the town’s commitment to righting the wrongs of the past and to equality in the painful wake of racial injustice.

“It doesn’t seem accurate to imply that what was done 100 years ago was okay 100 years ago. Owning slaves was wrong then, and it is wrong now,” Aschkenasy said. “We can’t excuse the Heath family’s actions simply because they lived 100 years ago in a time when slavery was common.”

Ehrenberg said that he believes the name change will resonate with and profoundly impact students within the classrooms rather than solely outside of the classrooms.

“[The name change] contributes to an overall positive culture at the school, which trickles down to students. Symbolic actions set a tone for what is acceptable within a community,” Ehrenberg said. “While these symbolic measures are not the same as ensuring civil rights, they remind us what the morals and values of our community are, and that is felt by students when they are in the classroom learning.”