Using the rebranding of a Rochester school to inspire excellence

The legacy of two longtime area educators is being used to help inspire a new generation of city school students.

A ceremony was held Friday at an elementary school in Rochester’s 19 ^th Ward to rename a school there. It now is called Dr. David & Ruth Anderson Academy School No. 16. Previously, it was the John Walton Spencer School, named after an individual involved in the development of agriculture in the 19 ^th century.

David Anderson is a renowned Frederick Douglass historian in Rochester and his wife Ruth Anderson taught in the city school district for more than 20 years.

Josie McClary, President of the 19 ^th Ward Community Association, said it was appropriate to rename School 16 after the Andersons.

“Just the legacy that they have in education and just the rapport they have amongst the marginalized community,” said McClary, who noted that school has been in receivership.

Schools in New York state that are identified as struggling or failing are placed in an intensive accountability category, and McClary is hopeful the rebranding of the school will motivate improvements in reading and other academics. “Reading is the fundamental of learning,” McClary noted.

David Anderson’s son, Dave Jr., said this school renaming is an overwhelming honor for the family.

“This is the type of people we need,” said Anderson Jr., “and as we know, all the stuff that's going on around the world, you have this kind of foundation, and you got people that know about it and learn about it and carry it forward, we'll be that much better off as a human race.”

Hanif Abdul-Wahid has been involved in a number of community efforts and said that Anderson has been a long time mentor of his.

“His career with the Rochester City School District, his acumen as a professor around the colleges, we just thought that it was apropos, along with him and his wife, who herself, Ruth Anderson, is a dynamo, that we name a school after them,” said Abdul-Wahid.

City school district and School 16 officials are working with other organizations to bolster after-school programs for youth and families, and provide tutoring for math and reading.