Wow, something unanimous on the school board, with one abstention, and it’s all in a name. The Board of Education, following a roar from the collective lungs that wore blue and gold at Harding High School, voted 8-0 to keep the name as the school segues to a new campus off Boston Avenue to replace the antiquated hulk a few blocks away on Central Avenue.
School board member Maria Pereira who attended Harding was among the leading cheerleaders to maintain the name.
The new school was an initiative of former Mayor Bill Finch. It will open for the upcoming school year.
More on this from CT Post reporter Linda Conner Lambeck:
The action on Thursday came after months of meetings, an outpouring of support by hundreds of Harding alumni to keep the name and despite concerns over the tarnished legacy of the nation’s 29th president.
“We wanted the community to have a voice,” Dennis Bradley, a board member said. “I am happy to see the degree of passion” shown.
Only board member Joe Sokolovic abstained, saying he didn’t understand the passion shown to the issue when the board is facing millions and millions of budget cuts.
“Priorities are misplaced,” Sokolovic said.
Full story here
As a graduate of Harding class of 61 i will say thank you for keeping the name Harding for the new School. Maybe there is a room or hallway walls that can accommodate people who should be recognized for their accomplishments . this can be done with a nice plaque
Andy
Is that 1961 or 1861???
I am not sure
Without tradition, “culture” dies, and without culture, society and its instruments become aimless and dysfunctional… Some traditions in some cultures might need to be eliminated (e.g., male dominance), but most benign traditions (the identity of an institution) serve to resonate with valuable positive energy sources — such as alumni being motivated to give back to Harding High…
This is who Bridgeport is celebrating, Warren G. Harding, I think they have the name, with the current mayor Joe Ganim fits right in with Harding, scandals, scandals, scandals and this is pride.
The “Teapot Dome Scandal” was a government scandal that took place in the United States during 1921–1923, and was a bribery incident involving the administration of then President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, and became the first Cabinet member to go to prison; however, no one was ever convicted of paying the bribes.
Before the Watergate scandal, Teapot Dome was regarded as the “greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics”. The scandal damaged the public reputation of the Harding administration, which was already severely diminished by its controversial handling of the Great Railroad Strike of 1922.
It’s easy to Goggle President Warren G. Harding like what I post above and there’s more bad stuff about President Harding. Now maybe we can find something else name Harding and use that with the blue and gold but to use this loser is sad but “only in Bridgeport.”
Ask Andy. He can tell you all about it. Of course he does sometimes gets of used with the Wheeler Golf Corse Scandal. But you’ve got to cut the old man some slack.
Okay Ron you have been looking for this so here it is. Nobody really cares about Warren Harding the president. What I and others care about is the name Harding. Thousands of us graduated from Harding High school and our past would be wiped out by naming the school something else.
We have people that want to name the school for Obama or for the first (undocumented) black teacher in Bridgeport. This does not deserve to have a school named after her.
We have Harding graduates killed in combat , we have others like Nate Dennis who excelled locally and in college sports. The list is endless. Ron where is it written that every school should be named after a black women from the past.
Andy, really, in America’s history from slavery until now there has been only one black American president and we can’t honor American that achievement?
I said above, Now maybe we can find something else name Harding and use that with the blue and gold, think about Central High School and their red and black who was Central named after? Names change, wives change their names, countries change their names, you do better when you know better.
Ron, Central was named as such since 45 Lyons Terrace is just about the center of the city, and Central’s former home. We are the Hilltoppers since 45 Lyons Terrace sits on top of a hill.
Warmest regards,
Eric
CHMS Class of 1994.
General Horacio Buford Cental, a general in the war of 1812. He is best known for is fight saying “ah fuck it. Run like hell!!!”
BEING FIRST IS NOT ALWAYS BEING BEST
Andy, that’s the same logic used with respect to the removal of Confederate statues around America. The vast majority of them were built between the 1890s and 1950s, which matches up exactly with the era of Jim Crow segregation with the biggest spike was between 1900 and the 1920s.
Just because changing the name to another doesn’t take nor diminish it’s history to you or anyone else. Warren Harding was just a name and not having that name does nothing to diminish the friendships made, sports history accomplished, the education recieved, the accomplishments of it’s alumni nor the fond memories that you had while there. President Barack Obama bought America from the brink of recession and did so with dignity, respect and with the admiration of the world. Nuff said.
lets wait about 4 years and let the dust settle on the 8 years he served. This is not the time to name any school for him. Harding High school has a long tradition that should not be set aside.If we are going to name the school for the first black female to attend and btw I think what she did was heroic to a point. How about the first female to attend high school period
Andy, I totally understand Harding Pride and the wearing of the blue and gold. As a freshmen I played on the freshmen football team and as a sophomore I played on the JV team. As a freshmen Harding had double session where freshman attended school in the afternoon so our football practices were in the morning then we had to go home shower and get dress to go back to the school for our classes.
Andy I remember Nate “the great” Dennis, the Goodson brothers, Al, Miles and Donald, all three were honor students and athletes, Paul Costello, Dick DeHart all football players and excellent students. My junior and senior years I attended Frank Scott Bunnell because our family moved to Stratford but my heart was always with the blue and gold, so I understand, George Bryant and Donald Peeler were brother firefighters and Harding athletes and students and I know how deep that pride goes. This is 2018 and it’s time to move on past Warren G. Harding as the name of the high school.
Look Ron wee have named a bunch of schools for people who may have made a ripple in whats happened in Bridgeport, its time to stop doing that.
True Story: A couple of years ago on the obituary page in the CT Post,. “He was a 1952 graduate of Warden Harding High School.”
He must have had a lot of pen pals.
*** Hey Andy how about “Trump High”? ***