Last evening, the Providence City School Board voted to ask the City Council to rename the Esek Hopkins School.

Before that discussion takes place, I believe that my community in Ward 4 should have a conversation to get their feedback and their desire to rename or not to rename the school. I am working on gathering the facts regarding the history of Esek Hopkins, while some of it is ugly, there may be evidence that he saw the gross misfortune that he was involved with and charted a different path. In addition, I have asked our City Archives to provide me with research on the other founding families of Providence, including the Brown’s.

That said, any change to the name of the school should come from robust community engagement where the school is located. The name also cannot be changed by the State or the School Department. The buildings are owned by the City of Providence.

I look forward to facilitating that conversation in the near future.